DUBAI, Jan 21 ― Dubai is an attractive destination for investors, but also for Russian nationals fleeing the Western sanctions imposed on their country since its invasion of Ukraine. And it seems that their move to the wealthy Gulf emirate is helping to boost the art market in the region.
Since the beginning of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have refused to take sides in the conflict so as not to damage their relations with Moscow. This neutrality has led many wealthy Russians to settle in the Gulf states, and especially in Dubai.
This influx of Russian nationals has had repercussions on the real-estate market in the wealthy emirate, with the value of real-estate transactions peaking at 528 billion dirhams (RM615.8 billion) in 2022, according to The National. This is an increase of 76.5 per cent compared to the previous year and, above all, an all-time record for the Gulf city-state.
Dubai's real-estate market is not the only sector to have benefited from this phenomenon. Russian oligarchs who moved to the city continued to buy luxury goods and works of art, as usual. And this phenomenon has not gone unnoticed by international auction houses and gallery owners in Dubai.
In fact, Christie’s has recruited a Russian-speaking specialist for its Dubai office, reports The Art Newspaper. However, the auction house assured the trade publication that “clients in all Christie’s locations, including Dubai, are subject to due diligence in accordance with our anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance programme.”
Indeed, auction houses and gallery owners have been ordered to apply the sanctions enacted by the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union against their rich Russian clients. The latter have been very active in the international art market since the early 2000s, even if their influence has diminished since the financial crisis of 2008. These collectors do not hesitate to spend exorbitant sums acquiring works of art. In 2008, Roman Abramovich paid US$86.3 million for Francis Bacon's “Triptych” (1976) and US$33.6 million for Lucian Freud's “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping” (1995), both sales records at the time. The Russian billionaire has since been sanctioned by the European Union and the United Kingdom for his closeness to Vladimir Putin and his role as a diplomatic mediator in the Ukraine conflict.
Although not all Russian collectors the target of Western sanctions, a large number of them nevertheless opt to move to Dubai to live in peace. This is good news for the galleries in the hospitable emirate. Art dealer Natalya Andakulova, who opened her own gallery in the city-state in 2012, told The Art Newspaper that members of Russian high society have become her main clientele. Whether they will be for much longer remains to be seen. ― ETX Studio
