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SDRPY Participates in ’Common Ground’ Exhibition on Saudi, Yemeni Cultures

SPA
SPA
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SDRPY Participates in ’Common Ground’ Exhibition on Saudi, Yemeni Cultures

SPA
SPA

The Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen (SDRPY) participated in an introductory exhibition on its development projects in Yemen.
The introduction is part of the first edition of the Common Ground exhibition, which is organized by the Ministry of Culture and held in Riyadh from September 8 to 20. The exhibition will spotlight the Saudi and Yemeni cultures, SPA reported.
The Common Ground exhibition aims to display the similarities between the cultures of the two Arab countries, including in the aspects of fashion, visual arts, architecture, design, as well as culinary arts.
The exhibition looks forward to enhancing cultural exchange and cooperation between the Kingdom and Yemen.
Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism of Yemen Moammar Al-Eryani and several Yemeni officials toured the introductory exhibition alongside SDRPY General Supervisor Mohammed bin Saeed Al Jaber.
SDRPY is engaged in reviving and preserving heritage, restoring historical buildings, and enhancing workforce capabilities in the cultural field. The program also implements quality initiatives that back the development process in Yemen and promotes economic benefits in Yemen.
SDRPY has implemented 229 development projects and initiatives in Yemen in seven key sectors: education, health, water, energy, transportation, agriculture and fisheries, and capacity building for government institutions.

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Magritte Painting Nets Auction Record of $121 Million

Rene Magritte's "L'empire des lumières" is on display during a press preview for Christie's Fall 20/21 Marquee Week in New York, November 8, 2024. (AFP)
Rene Magritte's "L'empire des lumières" is on display during a press preview for Christie's Fall 20/21 Marquee Week in New York, November 8, 2024. (AFP)
TT
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Magritte Painting Nets Auction Record of $121 Million

Rene Magritte's "L'empire des lumières" is on display during a press preview for Christie's Fall 20/21 Marquee Week in New York, November 8, 2024. (AFP)
Rene Magritte's "L'empire des lumières" is on display during a press preview for Christie's Fall 20/21 Marquee Week in New York, November 8, 2024. (AFP)

A painting by Rene Magritte shattered an auction record for the surrealist artist on Tuesday, selling for more than $121 million at Christie's in New York.

The seminal 1954 painting had been valued at $95 million, and the previous record for a work by Magritte (1898-1967) was $79 million, set in 2022.

After a nearly 10-minute bidding war on Tuesday, "Empire of Light" ("L'Empire des lumieres") was sold for $121,160,000, "achieving a world-record price for the artist and for a surrealist work of art at auction", according to auction house Christie's.

The painting -- depicting a house at night, illuminated by a lamp post, while under a bright, blue sky -- is one of a series by the Belgian artist showing the interplay of shadow and light.

"Empire of Light" was part of the private collection of Mica Ertegun, an interior designer who fled communist Romania to settle in the United States where she became an influential figure in the arts world.

She died in late 2023 and was married to the late Ahmet Ertegun, the music magnate who founded the Atlantic Records label.

The sale of the Magritte painting was an expected highlight of this week's autumn sales season in New York, at a time when the art market has seen a slowdown since last year.

Christie's -- which is controlled by Artemis, the investment holding company owned by the Pinault family -- said sales totaled $2.1 billion in the first half of this year.

That is down for the second straight year, after a peak of $4.1 billion in 2022 as the world emerged from the coronavirus pandemic.

During the same Christie's auction on Tuesday, a celebrated 1964 painting of a gas station by 86-year-old Ed Ruscha, titled "Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half," sold for $68.26 million, setting a new auction record for the American pop artist.