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Contemporary Art Museum in AlUla and Centre Pompidou Announce ‘Arduna’ Exhibition This February

The exhibition will feature more than 80 significant artworks by artists from Saudi Arabia, the Middle East and North Africa, and around the world. (SPA)
The exhibition will feature more than 80 significant artworks by artists from Saudi Arabia, the Middle East and North Africa, and around the world. (SPA)
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Contemporary Art Museum in AlUla and Centre Pompidou Announce ‘Arduna’ Exhibition This February

The exhibition will feature more than 80 significant artworks by artists from Saudi Arabia, the Middle East and North Africa, and around the world. (SPA)
The exhibition will feature more than 80 significant artworks by artists from Saudi Arabia, the Middle East and North Africa, and around the world. (SPA)

The exhibition Arduna will welcome visitors to the fifth edition of the AlUla Arts Festival from February 1 to April 15.

Presented by Arts AlUla and organized through a joint curatorial collaboration with Centre Pompidou, with the support of the French Agency for AlUla Development (AFALULA), the exhibition features more than 80 significant artworks by artists from Saudi Arabia, the Middle East and North Africa, and around the world.

Arduna offers visitors an early insight into the artistic vision of the Contemporary Art Museum in AlUla, envisioned as a global institution drawing inspiration from AlUla’s location and heritage as an ancient cultural oasis.

The exhibition is based on works drawn from a growing collection of the Royal Commission for AlUla, alongside important pieces from the collection of the Musée National d’Art Moderne at Centre Pompidou. The exhibition is overseen by co-curator Candida Pestana, with associate curator Ftoon AlThaedi from the Royal Commission for AlUla, and curator Anna Hiddleston with associate curator Noémie Fillon from Centre Pompidou.

As an oasis located along the ancient Incense Trade Routes that connected India and the Arabian Gulf with the Levant and Europe, AlUla served as a safe haven for passing traders, offering protection and tranquility. It was a place where merchants entrusted their goods during their absence, and a space for rest, contemplation, and reflection - a living green garden set within the vast desert.

The exhibition takes the image of the garden as its starting point, drawing inspiration from the site of AlUla to explore how modern and contemporary artists examine the evolving relationship between humanity, nature, and the land.

Featuring more than 80 artworks across multiple disciplines, the exhibition brings together pioneers of modern art such as Pablo Picasso, David Hockney, Joan Mitchell, and Wassily Kandinsky, alongside leading contemporary artists including Saudi artists Ayman Zedani and Manal AlDowayan, as well as artists from the Arab world such as Imran Qureshi, Samia Halaby, and Etel Adnan.

The exhibition is divided into six chapters that explore the multiple manifestations of nature - real and imagined - through a journey that moves from gardens and orchards to deserts and their cosmic reflections.

Through the presentation of impactful and inspiring artworks, the exhibition highlights key global challenges, including the Anthropocene era, the threat of climate change, human displacement, and expanding urbanization.

As artists seek to unpack humanity’s complex and often strained relationship with the environment, the exhibition may be seen as an invitation to reimagine new ways of coexistence among all forms of life.

Arduna also presents a selection of newly commissioned artworks by the Contemporary Art Museum in AlUla, developed through close engagement with the region’s unique natural environment and rich cultural contexts. These include new works by Saudi artist Ayman Zedani and Lebanese artist Tarek Atoui, produced as part of the AlUla Artists Residency Program.

The exhibition further highlights new works that collectively reflect the museum’s central role in fostering artistic practices rooted in dynamic interaction between artists, curators, and local communities, contributing to the development of AlUla’s distinctive creative identity.

Director of Arts and Creative Industries at the Royal Commission for AlUla Hamad Alhomiedan stated that Arduna represents a pivotal moment in the journey of the AlUla Arts Festival and embodies Arts AlUla’s aspiration to position itself at the heart of global discussions on art, culture, and the environment.

He noted that the exhibition brings together exceptional works from Saudi Arabia, the region, and the world, engaging audiences through themes that reflect the collective relationship with nature and land.

Arduna presents bold artistic propositions and offers artists meaningful opportunities to engage with AlUla’s unique heritage and breathtaking landscapes, he added, describing the exhibition as an open celebration of creativity and a foundational step toward establishing AlUla as a sustainable hub for cultural innovation and artistic excellence.

President of Centre Pompidou Laurent Le Bon said the exhibition represents an important step in the partnership with the Royal Commission for AlUla, allowing the public to experience the first outcomes of Centre Pompidou’s strategic advisory role for the forthcoming Contemporary Art Museum in AlUla.

He underlined the shared mission of promoting cultural heritage and fostering long-term cross-cultural dialogue, expressing his anticipation of welcoming visitors, particularly young audiences, to explore this unique exhibition and the diverse artistic landscapes of Saudi Arabia, France, and beyond.

Arduna, which serves as a preparatory step toward the opening of the Contemporary Art Museum in AlUla, will be staged in the museum’s experimental pre-opening gallery spaces and will be accessible through ticketed entry.

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Culture

Private Museums Bolster Cultural Tourism in Qassim Region

A prominent example is the private museum of Abdullah Al-Suhaibani, an expert with over 40 years of experience in gemstones and minerals - SPA
A prominent example is the private museum of Abdullah Al-Suhaibani, an expert with over 40 years of experience in gemstones and minerals - SPA
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Private Museums Bolster Cultural Tourism in Qassim Region

A prominent example is the private museum of Abdullah Al-Suhaibani, an expert with over 40 years of experience in gemstones and minerals - SPA
A prominent example is the private museum of Abdullah Al-Suhaibani, an expert with over 40 years of experience in gemstones and minerals - SPA

Qassim Region is witnessing a significant rise in private museums, as individual collectors transform personal passions into vital cultural projects. These museums serve as a living memory for the community, preserving rare artifacts, historical documents, antique weapons, and vintage collections that document critical stages of the region's history. By connecting the present with its roots, these sites strengthen national identity and provide essential research resources for scholars and tourists alike, SPA reported.

A prominent example is the private museum of Abdullah Al-Suhaibani, an expert with over 40 years of experience in gemstones and minerals.

His collection features rare agates, fossils from ancient geological eras, and unique rock formations discovered throughout the Kingdom.

The museum acts as a scientific platform, promoting geology and field research while educating the community on the Kingdom’s diverse natural resources and mineral wealth.

Located near Al-Khabra Historical Village, these private initiatives have become key cultural landmarks in Riyadh Al-Khabra Governorate. Their growth aligns with Saudi Vision 2030 goals to develop cultural and scientific tourism, support local content, and position the Kingdom’s heritage and natural sites as premier global destinations.

Culture

Saudi Arabia Showcases Literary Diversity at 2026 Rabat International Book Fair

‏The Saudi pavilion brings together a range of government entities and cultural institutions - SPA
‏The Saudi pavilion brings together a range of government entities and cultural institutions - SPA
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Saudi Arabia Showcases Literary Diversity at 2026 Rabat International Book Fair

‏The Saudi pavilion brings together a range of government entities and cultural institutions - SPA
‏The Saudi pavilion brings together a range of government entities and cultural institutions - SPA

The Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission launched the Saudi pavilion at the 2026 International Publishing and Book Fair in Rabat, which continues through May 10.

‏Commission CEO Dr. Abdullatif Alwasel affirmed that the Kingdom’s participation in the event embodies the deep historical ties between Saudi Arabia and Morocco while showcasing a diverse, contemporary cultural movement driven by Saudi Vision 2030.

“Saudi Arabia’s participation at the 2026 International Publishing and Book Fair emphasizes the Kingdom’s commitment to spotlighting publishers and the creative literary sector, which continues to go from strength to strength,” Alwasel said, SPA reported.

‏He added: “The Saudi pavilion is an opportunity to invite people from every corner of the world to experience Saudi culture and diverse literary works, showcase unique Saudi talent and creative thinking, while facilitating cultural exchange and engaging discussions.”

‏The Saudi pavilion brings together a range of government entities and cultural institutions, led by the Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission, highlighting the integrated approach of the Kingdom’s cultural environment.

‏As part of the pavilion, the commission has organized a series of topical panel discussions, poetry evenings, and workshops featuring Saudi writers and creative thinkers, encouraging discussions on key issues relating to the literature, publishing and translation sector and its impact on Arab and global conversations.

‏The participation at the 31st International Publishing and Book Fair event reaffirms the Kingdom’s efforts towards platforming local talent and enhancing collaboration and cultural exchange.

Culture

Georg Baselitz, the German Painter Who Turned Postwar Art Upside Down, Dies at 88

German artist Georg Baselitz attends the opening of his exhibition "The Heroes" (Die Helden) at the Staedel museum in Frankfurt, Germany June 29, 2016. (Reuters)
German artist Georg Baselitz attends the opening of his exhibition "The Heroes" (Die Helden) at the Staedel museum in Frankfurt, Germany June 29, 2016. (Reuters)
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Georg Baselitz, the German Painter Who Turned Postwar Art Upside Down, Dies at 88

German artist Georg Baselitz attends the opening of his exhibition "The Heroes" (Die Helden) at the Staedel museum in Frankfurt, Germany June 29, 2016. (Reuters)
German artist Georg Baselitz attends the opening of his exhibition "The Heroes" (Die Helden) at the Staedel museum in Frankfurt, Germany June 29, 2016. (Reuters)

Georg Baselitz liked to insist — sometimes as a taunt, ‌sometimes as a shield — that he did not know how to paint. That he had "no talent".

Rejected at 17 by the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, he talked his way into an academy in East Berlin only to be expelled two semesters later for "sociopolitical immaturity".

"I was stupid," he recalled. "I was uneducated, but I was a rebel."

From that rebellion, Baselitz forged a career that made the child of Nazi Germany, schooled under Soviet communism, into one of the defining artists of postwar Germany.

The painter and sculptor, known for his depictions of raw bodies and inverted landscapes, has died at the age of 88, Germany's Die Welt newspaper reported on Thursday. No cause of death was given.

A REBEL SHAPED BY TWO DICTATORSHIPS

Georg Baselitz was born Hans-Georg Bruno Kern on January 23, 1938, in the Saxon village of Deutschbaselitz, a name he later adopted.

His father, a village schoolteacher and Nazi Party member, recorded Hans-Georg's birth in his diary. Inexplicably, he recorded the birth of none of his other four children, the Sächsische Zeitung daily reported in 2018.

After the war, ‌his father was ‌barred from teaching. Baselitz's mother took over his duties at the school.

Baselitz spent his childhood ‌amid ⁠the unforgiving discipline of ⁠Nazi Germany, and his adolescence amid the rubble and ideological re-education of the country's Soviet occupation zone.

"I was born into a destroyed order, a destroyed landscape, a destroyed people, a destroyed society," he later recalled. "And I didn't want to reestablish an order: I had seen enough of so-called order. I was forced to question everything, to be 'naive', to start again."

After he was expelled from the East Berlin academy, he moved to West Berlin, where he finished his studies and absorbed modernism in a way that felt, he said, like a sudden intake of oxygen.

He recalled the shock of first seeing works by Jackson Pollock and other abstract expressionists — evidence, in his telling, that ⁠the United States had a serious culture despite what he had been taught.

But rather than ‌imitate an American style, Baselitz turned back to German sources, drawing on expressionism, ‌folk traditions and imagery often dismissed by critics as ugly or even "degenerate".

SCANDAL AS A CALLING CARD

At a 1963 solo show in Berlin, authorities ‌seized two of his paintings on obscenity grounds. The episode made Baselitz famous.

The early pictures, marked by raw bodies, stunted masculinity and abrasive humor, were widely seen as provocation.

Supporters and museum curators have also framed them as a blunt report on postwar German life: damaged, compromised and struggling to find a new footing.

That sensibility carried into his mid-1960s "Heroes" paintings, which presented hulking, battered figures that looked less like victors than survivors ‌stumbling out of a defeated national myth.

But Baselitz's most recognizable works came in 1969, when he began painting motifs upside down.

After earlier experiments that fractured or partially inverted figures, he ⁠produced fully inverted works including "The ⁠Wood on Its Head" and "The Man by the Tree".

He did not simply flip finished images, he composed and painted them inverted from the start.

That approach altered how viewers read his works. By disrupting recognition, it forced attention onto the mechanics of painting — its color, balance and composition.

"An object painted upside down is suitable for painting because it is unsuitable as an object," Baselitz said.

The inversions made Baselitz an international figure in the 1970s and 1980s, as the market and institutions that once treated him as scandalous increasingly positioned him as a pillar of European postwar art.

His public reputation, however, did not settle into quiet respectability.

He repeatedly sparked backlash with remarks about female painters, including a widely reported claim that women "don't paint very well".

He also confronted the limits Germany's history places on gesture and imagery: a wooden sculpture shown at the 1980 Venice Biennale was widely read as evoking a Nazi salute, a reading he denied.

He was married to Johanna Elke Kretzschmar, known as Elke, with whom he had two sons.

In later life, Baselitz painted huge canvases from his wheelchair and moved his brushes and paints in a rolling cart.

"The sensible thing, in my situation, would naturally be to say: 'I stick to small formats'," he told Spanish newspaper El Pais at age 87. "But of course I don't do what's sensible. What's right for me is the nonsensical."