A rare Michelangelo study makes a stop in Dubai

Welcome back to Al-Monitor Dubai.

Who would have ever thought that a delicate drawing by the revered Renaissance master Michelangelo would find its way to Dubai? It is on view at Christie’s Dubai before heading to New York, where it will be auctioned in February. At The Third Line, Moroccan-Spanish artist Anuar Khalifi reveals a new body of expressive paintings that traverse the real and the imaginary, questioning the interstices of time. Meanwhile, Emirati artist Alia Lootah explores a state of continual transformation in her solo exhibition at Aisha Alabbar Gallery.

Beyond the gallery walls, the region’s cultural calendar also turns toward live performance. Over the coming weeks in Abu Dhabi, a range of renowned performers, including Mariah Carey, Bryan Adams and Max Richter, will take the stage for the third edition of Saadiyat Nights.

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Happy reading,

Rebecca

P.S. Have feedback or tips on Dubai's culture scene? Send them my way at contactus@al-monitor.com.

1. Leading the week: Christie’s brings Michelangelo to Dubai

Michelangelo Buonarroti. Study of a right foot, preparatory work for the Libyan Sibyl on the Sistine Ceiling, Vatican, Rome. (Courtesy of Christie's)

One of the few drawings by Italian Renaissance master Michelangelo still in private hands is on view this week at Christie’s Dubai, ahead of its auction at Christie’s New York in February. The drawing, a study of a right foot, is a preparatory work for the Libyan Sibyl on the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Vatican in Rome.

“The drawing is a highly significant work not only because it was created by one of the greatest artists of all time, but also because it is a rare preparatory study for what can only be described as a seminal work of the High Renaissance,” Giada Damen, head of sale and specialist at Christie’s New York, told Al-Monitor. “It is also the only work to ever come to the auction market with a direct link to the Sistine Chapel ceiling — a truly rare study for the foot of the Libyan Sibyl.”

How did Christie’s gain access to such an important work? A photograph was submitted to Christie’s online Request an Auction Estimate portal by an unsuspecting owner, resulting in a major discovery: a previously unknown study by Michelangelo for what is perhaps his most famous project, the frescoes on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

Damen identified the powerful red chalk drawing as the first unrecorded study for the Sistine ceiling ever to come to auction. The work is also one of only around 10 Michelangelo drawings known to remain in private hands. Of the roughly 600 sheets by Michelangelo that survive today — only a small fraction of the thousands he must have produced — this is one of just 50 studies related to the Sistine Chapel.

For audiences in Dubai, its display offers a rare opportunity to see a Michelangelo drawing in the Middle East before it is offered at Christie’s in New York in February.

Date: Jan. 15, followed by viewings in New York

Location: Christie’s Dubai, Gate Village, Building 3-05, Dubai International Financial Center, Dubai

Find more information here. 

2. Word on the street: Window

An interior view of Window, opening soon at Alserkal Avenue. (Photo courtesy of Window)

If you’re a fan of Kokoro, Dubai’s popular handroll bar, you’re in for another treat as the same FYTE Hospitality team launches its second concept — Window — this month at Alserkal Avenue. The intimate, chef-driven restaurant features live-fire cooking and simple dishes made with seasonal ingredients. Diners can expect smoky flavors, grilled meats and embers-charred vegetables, all carefully prepared to preserve the natural character of each ingredient and served in a dimly lit, sleek setting with dark wooden and metallic accents.

Location: Alserkal Avenue, Al Quoz 1, Dubai

Find more information here.

3. Dubai diary

Anuar Khalifi. “Remember the Future.” 2025. Acrylic on canvas. 205 x 163 cm. (Photo courtesy of the The Third Line)

• ‘Anuar Khalifi: Remember the Future’

In Spanish-Moroccan artist Anuar Khalifi’s new body of work, which comprises large-scale paintings and works on paper, he invokes the interstices of time while  exploring the complexities of the present moment. The works will go on view at The Third Line in the artist’s third solo exhibition with the gallery. Khalifi’s vibrant realist paintings move between reality and an imaginary realm, inviting onlookers to question the present and its mundane and yet serendipitous moments with a sense of childlike wonder.

The paintings incorporate references drawn from Khalifi’s longstanding interest in magical realism, poetry and art history. Pulsating with meaning yet open to interpretation, some works depict scenes the artist has witnessed, while others are conjured from his imagination and internal reflection, demonstrating how reality is neither fixed within nor outside the self.

Date: Jan. 17 - March 1

Location: The Third Line, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

Find more information here.

• ‘CRACK’ by Werner Bronkhorst

Marking the global premiere of artist Werner Bronkhorst’s eighth collection and his first showing in the Middle East, “CRACK,” his exhibition at Concrete at Alserkal Avenue, unfolds as a four-room experiential journey. The show showcases tension, texture and narrative through Bronkhorst’s hyperrealistic paintings and abstract sculptural environments, and represents his most ambitious body of work to date.

Date: Jan. 16-18

Location: Concrete, Alserkal Avenue, Dubai

Find more information here. 

• ‘In the Space of Becoming’ by Alia Lootah 

Emirati artist Alia Lootah presents a new body of work in her latest solo exhibition, creating diverse media, including painting, drawing and sculpture. Unified through the idea of unfinished forms — or, as suggested by the exhibition title “In the Space of Becoming,” states caught between inception and completion — the works explore form as something animate and continually in transformation. At the heart of the exhibition are Lootah’s sculptural works, many which incorporate textiles both as a mode of creation and as a metaphor for perpetual change. The dichotomy between softness and structure also emerges as the artworks oscillate between textures and materials — dualities that are central to her artistic practice.

Date: Jan. 17 - March 10

Location: Aisha Alabbar Gallery, Alserkal Avenue, Al Quoz 1, Dubai

Find more information here.