Diriyah, an ancient oasis on the fringes of Riyadh, is about to become the epicenter of a new era in the art world. On February 8, 2025, Sotheby’s will stage its first-ever Saudi Arabian auction, and in a radical move, every single lot—119 in total—will be payable in cryptocurrency. The stakes are high. Will digital wallets replace paddles, or is this a mirage in the making?
From Magritte to Machine Learning
The sale, titled Origins, reads like a collector’s fever dream, blending 20th-century icons with bleeding-edge digital art. The star lot? René Magritte’s L’État de veille (1958), estimated at up to $1.5 million. But the most provocative piece may be Turkish artist Refik Anadol’s AI-generated painting, fed in real-time by telescope data. Sotheby’s is wagering that today’s crypto elite will see as much value in algorithmic brushstrokes as they do in blue-chip masters.
This isn’t just about flashy headlines. Saudi Arabia has been aggressively positioning itself as a cultural powerhouse, pumping billions into arts initiatives. For Sotheby’s, incorporating in the Kingdom was a strategic move, backed by its new Abu Dhabi-based investors. The auction house, which laid off 100 employees last December following a 23% sales drop, is betting that Saudi collectors will pick up the slack left by a softening Western market.
Meanwhile, cryptocurrency is creeping back into relevance, fueled by renewed investor enthusiasm and the political volatility of a second Trump term. Sotheby’s first dipped its toes into crypto in 2021 when a Banksy print sold for digital currency. Since then, blockchain-backed ownership models, like those used by ex-Christie’s exec Loic Gouzer’s company Particle, have reshaped how we think about art ownership.
A Future Written in Code?
Can Sotheby’s really court a new generation of collectors—both Saudi billionaires and crypto moguls—without alienating traditional buyers? The answer will play out in Diriyah. If successful, this sale could cement the art market’s pivot toward digital finance and Middle Eastern wealth. If not, it might serve as a costly lesson in hype over substance.
One thing is certain: when the gavel drops on February 8, the reverberations will be felt far beyond the auction room.