Saudi Artists Receive French Order of Arts and Letters at Knight Rankhttps://english.aawsat.com/culture/5040877-saudi-artists-receive-french-order-arts-and-letters-knight-rank
Saudi Artists Receive French Order of Arts and Letters at Knight Rank
The medal is one of the highest French honors awarded to individuals who have made significant contributions in the fields of art, literature, and history. (SPA)
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Saudi Artists Receive French Order of Arts and Letters at Knight Rank
The medal is one of the highest French honors awarded to individuals who have made significant contributions in the fields of art, literature, and history. (SPA)
France has awarded the French Order of Arts and Letters at the rank of Knight, in the name of the French President, Saudi artists and establishments in recognition of their exceptional contributions to art and their profound impact on the Saudi cultural scene, as well as their role in boosting Saudi-French relations through the arts.
The awardees are founder of Saudi Arabia’s Nujood Art Gallery and the Arts and Skills Institute Princess Adwaa bint Yazid bin Abdullah, contemporary artist Ahmad Mater, the first Saudi graffiti artist Noura bint Saidan, artist Muhannad Shono, and artist Sarah Ibrahim.
French Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ludovic Pouille presented the medals to the Saudi artists in a ceremony held in Riyadh.
The medal is one of the highest French honors awarded to individuals who have made significant contributions in the fields of art, literature, and history.
The award reflects the unlimited support that the arts and literature sector receives from the Saudi leadership.
The French Ministry of Culture awards this medal to creative talents in the art or literature fields or to those who contribute to promoting arts and literature in France and abroad.
Riyadh Art Program and Wrth Sign MoU to Strengthen Cooperation in Cultural and Creative Fieldshttps://english.aawsat.com/culture/5330007-riyadh-art-program-and-wrth-sign-mou-strengthen-cooperation-cultural-and-creative
The agreement aims to develop initiatives that bring together contemporary and traditional arts, serve the objectives of both parties, and enhance their cultural impact - SPA
Riyadh Art Program and Wrth Sign MoU to Strengthen Cooperation in Cultural and Creative Fields
The agreement aims to develop initiatives that bring together contemporary and traditional arts, serve the objectives of both parties, and enhance their cultural impact - SPA
The Riyadh Art Program, one of the programs of the Royal Commission for Riyadh City, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Royal Institute of Traditional Arts "Wrth" to strengthen cooperation in cultural and creative fields.
The agreement aims to develop initiatives that bring together contemporary and traditional arts, serve the objectives of both parties, and enhance their cultural impact, SPA reported.
The MoU covers the development of joint creative initiatives that bring together contemporary and traditional arts through the exchange of expertise, art residency programs, and seasonal events.
It also includes cooperation to enhance the presence of both parties' projects and programs at relevant international events and forums.
Van Gogh Work Unseen in Public for 60 Years on Show in Hong Konghttps://english.aawsat.com/culture/5329060-van-gogh-work-unseen-public-60-years-show-hong-kong
Staff members pose with Vincent van Gogh's "Chataigniers en fleurs" (Chestnut Trees in Blossom) at a media preview ahead of its auction in New York, at Sotheby's in Hong Kong, China, October 13, 2026. REUTERS/Joyce Zhou
Van Gogh Work Unseen in Public for 60 Years on Show in Hong Kong
Staff members pose with Vincent van Gogh's "Chataigniers en fleurs" (Chestnut Trees in Blossom) at a media preview ahead of its auction in New York, at Sotheby's in Hong Kong, China, October 13, 2026. REUTERS/Joyce Zhou
Hundreds of people queued on Tuesday outside a Hong Kong gallery to see a Vincent van Gogh painting on public display for the first time in six decades.
The Dutch artist's "Chataigniers en fleurs" ("Chestnut Trees in Blossom") was on show in Hong Kong ahead of its November 18 auction in New York, where it is expected to smash records and fetch around $180 million, according to Sotheby's.
It was one of 12 works owned by late Argentine collectors Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier and Carlos Pedro Blaquier. Others by Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro and Paul Cezanne will also go under the hammer.
The van Gogh, which according to Sotheby's was unseen by the public for over 60 years, portrays a blossoming chestnut tree with a solitary man walking past three women in Japanese attire.
Completed in 1890, it is from the last two months of van Gogh's life.
"It's one of the last, most expressive and hopeful works by van Gogh in this final phase of his career," Scott Niichel, a vice chairman at Sotheby's, told AFP.
It is one of approximately 70 works van Gogh created after leaving the psychiatric asylum of Saint-Remy, where he had created his famous "The Starry Night.”
During these final days of his life, van Gogh was producing at a frantic rate -- averaging around one work a day.
He died shortly after at the age of 37, two days after shooting himself in the chest following well-documented mental health struggles.
"This manic frenzy of paint application suggests he has so much more to give, and he's just racing to put it to canvas," Niichel said, noting the thickness of the paint layers.
"Orchard with Cypresses" set the current record for a van Gogh price point, selling for $117.2 million in a 2022 auction.
Niichel said that "anything is possible" for who might claim the painting in November.
"Our revealing in Hong Kong suggests that Asia is certainly a possibility."
Egypt’s Fayoum Mummy Portraits to Travel Abroad for 1st Time after Restorationhttps://english.aawsat.com/culture/5328387-egypt%E2%80%99s-fayoum-mummy-portraits-travel-abroad-1st-time-after-restoration
Fayoum portraits, "Tondo of the Two Brothers", Egyptian icons from the Greco-Roman period the 1st century BC, are displayed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, after being restored. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
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Egypt’s Fayoum Mummy Portraits to Travel Abroad for 1st Time after Restoration
Fayoum portraits, "Tondo of the Two Brothers", Egyptian icons from the Greco-Roman period the 1st century BC, are displayed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, after being restored. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
Egypt unveiled Sunday a restored version of the “Tondo of the Two Brothers,” a prized 2nd-century painting from the famed Fayoum portraits.
Specialists from Rome worked alongside conservators from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir — where the collection is usually kept — for three weeks to restore the artwork, officials said at a press conference.
A visitor films one of Fayoum portraits, "Demos", from the Greco-Roman period the 1st century BC, at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, after being restored. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
Fayoum mummy portraits were painted primarily on thin wooden panels and placed over the faces of the deceased within mummy wrappings, combining Egyptian funerary traditions with artistic influences from the wider Greco-Roman world.
Egypt will lend a major part of the collection to a temporary exhibition in Rome, marking the first time it will travel abroad.
“The restoration of the Tondo of the Two Brothers is an important example of what can be achieved through international cooperation in the preservation and study of cultural heritage,” said Sherif Fathy, Egypt’s minister of tourism and antiquities. “Egypt and Italy share deep historical and cultural ties, and this project brings together Egyptian and Italian expertise to preserve an exceptional work of art for future generations.”
Experts describe the painting as unusual because of its circular shape and its depiction of two people instead of one, and rank it among the most vivid surviving portraits from Roman-era Egypt. It was painted using a technique in which pigments are mixed with molten wax, and restorers were able to recover the features of the brother on the right.
Aly Abdel Halim, director general of the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, said the conservation required careful intervention because both the wooden support, damaged by termites, and the painted surface were fragile.
Fayoum portraits, "Tondo of the Two Brothers", Egyptian icons from the Greco-Roman period the 1st century BC, are displayed at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, after being restored. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
The portraits will be featured in an exhibition in Rome from November to May 2027, The Associated Press reported.
Tomaso Radaelli, chairman of MondoMostre, the exhibition’s organizer, said it will bring together more than 110 objects, including painted panels, funerary shrouds, masks, marble portraits, plaster casts and ancient jewelry.
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