Seven must-see exhibitions across the Arab world

Including a tribute to late Lebanese painter Abdel Hamid Baalbaki and an exhibition highlighting the influence of Vietnamese artist Tran Luong

After debuting in Rio de Janeiro, the Art of the Kingdom: Poetic Illuminations is now being exhibited at home in Saudi Arabia. Photo: Saudi Arabia Museum of Contemporary Art at Jax

Several thought-provoking exhibitions are currently on display across the Arab world.

From a travelling show of contemporary Saudi artists to one that highlights Beirut as a hub for abstraction in the latter half of the 20th century, here is a round-up of seven exhibitions to see across the region.

Tam Ta – Soaked in the Long Rain at Jameel Arts Centre

This exhibition is the first international survey of Vietnamese artist Tran Luong. A leading figure in Vietnam’s contemporary art scene, Luong has produced work in a variety of mediums, often reflecting upon his country’s political and social elements. The exhibition at the Jameel Arts Centre shows how Luong began as a painter before veering towards conceptual and performance art. It highlights how he was a pioneering figure in the Vietnamese art scene, with an influence that spread across the wider Southeast Asia.

Running until May 18 at Jameel Arts Centre

Art of the Kingdom: Poetic Illuminations at Saudi Arabia Museum of Contemporary Art at Jax

Art of the Kingdom: Poetic Illuminations is running until May 24. Photo: Saudi Arabia Museum of Contemporary Art at Jax

Art of the Kingdom: Poetic Illuminations is a sharp survey of Saudi Arabia’s contemporary art scene. The exhibition made its debut in Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro in November and has been advertised as the first travelling group show of Saudi contemporary artists.

The exhibition provided a platform for audiences in Brazil to discover some of the thought-provoking works that are emerging from the kingdom. It will no doubt find a different resonance at home.

Art of the Kingdom is now being shown at the Saudi Arabia Museum of Contemporary Art at Jax in Diriyah. The exhibition will be running until May 24. It presents works by 17 Saudi artists from across generations and areas in the kingdom. These include Muhannad Shono, Lina Gazzaz, Manal AlDowayan, Ayman Zedani, Ahmed Mater, Ahaad Alamoudi and Ayman Yossri Daydban, among others.

The exhibition will travel to the Shanghai National Museum in China later this year.

Running until May 24 at the Saudi Arabia Museum of Contemporary Art at Jax

The Eternal Letters at Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation

The Eternal Letters: Qur’an Manuscripts from the Abdul Rahman Al Owais Collection is an exhibition that focuses on the history and religious significance of Arabic calligraphy. The exhibition presents 81 Quranic manuscripts that have never been shown to the public before.

The manuscripts come from across the Islamic world and exhibit the breadth of calligraphic styles that emerged from China, Turkey, Iran, and the Mediterranean, among other places. The artefacts cover more than a millennia of Islamic history and are part of the private collection of Abdul Rahman bin Mohammed Al Owais, the UAE Minister of Health.

Running until May 25 at Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation

Kings and Queens of Africa: Forms and Figures of Power at Louvre Abu Dhabi

Kings and Queens of Africa: Forms and Figures of Power is running until May 25. Victor Besa / The National

Louvre Abu Dhabi’s latest exhibition presents a thousand years of African history through the lens of the continent’s royalty.

Kings and Queens of Africa: Forms and Figures of Power has been organised in collaboration with Musee du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, and features loans from several notable African institutions.

It brings together more than 350 historical artefacts and contemporary artworks, which collectively show the diversity of the sub-Saharan Africa. The exhibition delves into the rich traditions and mythologies of the region, while also showing how their stories continue to inspire and inform artists from Africa and its diaspora. In that way, it dismantles monolithic conceptions of the continent, to instead show how Africa has been a birthplace to several ancient kingdoms, empires and states, each with their own unique set of customs and beliefs.

Running until May 25 at Louvre Abu Dhabi

Al Raqim exhibition at Museum of Islamic Art in Doha

This exhibition presents works that were competing in the Qatar International Arabic Calligraphy Competition: Al-Raqim. The competition was organised by the Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zaid Al-Mahmoud Islamic Cultural Centre and the Museum of Islamic Art and aims to preserve the art of Arabic calligraphy.

Those who took part in the competition are some of the most distinguish calligraphers today, as such the works presented in Al Raqim exhibition are some of the most cutting edge examples of calligraphy. They highlight the artistry of the craft, as well as its cultural significance.

Running until June 21 at the Museum of Islamic Art

Nadia Saikali and Her Contemporaries at Maraya Art Centre in Sharjah

Nadia Saikali and Her Contemporaries is running until July 13. Photo: Maraya Art Centre

A pioneering figure of abstract art in the region, Nadia Saikali’s spotlight is perhaps long overdue. The Lebanese artist’s work ranges across a variety of mediums and styles, despite them often veering towards abstraction.

From her early gestural work to the line-based paintings and sprawling landscape canvasses in the later stages of her career, Saikali’s work is at the heart of a new show at Sharjah’s Maraya Art Centre. Yet, the exhibition – co-organised with the Barjeel Art Foundation – opens up to feature works by her contemporaries, all of whom are women.

The artists come from across the Arab world, but they all spent time reducing work in Beirut during the 1960s and 1970s. As such, Beirut becomes the star of the exhibition, showing how the city was a regional hub for artists.

Running until July 13 at Maraya Art Centre in Sharjah

Tribute to Abdel Hamid Baalbaki at Sursock Museum in Beirut

Abdul-Hamid Baalbaki has an immovable place in the pantheon of modern Lebanese artists.

Baalbaki was born in 1940 in Odaisseh, a village in Lebanon near the border with Israel. He was motivated by the social and political struggles of his day, which he depicted in bright, figurative canvasses – eschewing then in-vogue abstraction for styles more accessible to the public.

After living in Beirut for more than three decades, Baalbaki returned to his native vision, building a home that became as much an art centre and museum as it was a family residence. He collected works by other prominent artists as well as ancient and historical ceramic artefacts, some of which dated back to the first millennium BCE. He also built a collection of hundreds of books and manuscripts. All these were on display on the second storey of the large house, which was kept empty of furniture and arrayed as a gallery.

After Baalbaki died in 2013, his family kept the house open to the public and it often hosted visitors and students from Lebanon’s Academy of Fine Arts. The house, however, was destroyed by Israeli forces in October 2024.

The exhibition at Sursock Museum in Beirut is as much a tribute to Baalbaki as it is to the home that embodied his passion for preserving art and making it accessible to the public. The exhibition presents many of his highlight works, including his famous 1977 War Mural.

Running until September 28 at the Sursock Museum in Beirut