The Bulletin bringing you the latest highlights in the art world

JANUARY 2026

Fady Jameel Awarded Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters

Fady Mohammed Jameel has been named Chevalier in France’s Order of Arts and Letters, in recognition of his long-standing support for arts and culture internationally. The honour was presented in Paris by the French Minister of Culture, acknowledging his role in advancing cross-cultural exchange and sustained arts patronage. As Chair of Art Jameel, Jameel has overseen initiatives including Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai and Hayy Jameel in Jeddah, alongside wide-ranging programmes in art, film, and learning that reach audiences globally. The distinction also reflects the Jameel family’s decades-long philanthropic engagement and their contribution to strengthening cultural connections between the Middle East and Europe.

Lebanon Mourns the Passing of Rima Amyuni

Rima Amyuni, born in Lebanon in 1954 and trained in Britain and the United States, passed away early this January. Across more than three decades of painting, she developed a singular figurative language rooted in observation yet charged with quiet estrangement. Her work moved between landscapes, portraits, and self-representation, gradually giving rise to painterly figures that hovered between the familiar and the uncanny.

Through dense colour, expressive geometry, and attentive looking, Amyuni reworked the traditions of portraiture and landscape to foreground lives often rendered invisible. Her paintings remain attentive, humane, and deeply alert to presence, difference, and the soft unrest of the everyday.

Ithra Cultural Days Returns to Celebrate Spain

Ithra Cultural Days returns from 12 to 31 January 2026 with a programme dedicated to Spain, activating spaces across the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture in Dhahran. Spanning exhibitions, performances, film screenings, talks, and workshops, the programme invites visitors to encounter Spanish culture through photography, fashion, sport, cuisine, and live arts. Daily performances animate the Theatre, Plaza, and Lush Garden, while cinema and public discussions explore film, literature, and architecture. Designed for all ages, the programme combines hands-on activities, family events, and food experiences, foregrounding cultural exchange through participation and shared discovery.

Zayed National Museum Marks the Launch of Magan Rediscovered

Zayed National Museum will mark the launch of Magan Rediscovered: The Building of a Bronze Age Boat That Sailed the Arabian Gulf with a public weekend programme on 10–11 January 2026. The publication traces the research behind the Magan Boat project, a collaborative initiative that reconstructed a full-scale Bronze Age vessel using archaeological evidence from the region. Across talks, workshops, performances, and a documentary screening, the programme offers insight into the project’s making and its connection to maritime heritage. Bringing together researchers, boatbuilders, and museum specialists, the weekend foregrounds shared knowledge, experimentation, and the enduring relationship between craft, history, and place.

The Third Line to Present Sophia Al-Maria at Art Basel Qatar

The Third Line will present HiLux, a new body of work by Sophia Al-Maria, at the inaugural Art Basel Qatar 2026. The presentation centres on a newly commissioned scroll installation, accompanied by works on paper and a sound piece, unfolding across the booth at M7 in Doha. Drawing on the Toyota Hilux as a recurring motif, Al-Maria repositions the vehicle as a carrier of memory, labour, and survival across Gulf landscapes. Expanding her long-standing engagement with extractive modernity and embodied experience, HiLux revisits Gulf futurism through intimacy, resilience, and relational histories. Sophia Al-Maria is a Qatari-American artist whose multidisciplinary practice spans visual art, film, and writing, engaging with speculative histories and the cultural politics of modernity.

BeMA: Archiving the Legacy of Gebran Tarazi

In line with its mandate to preserve Lebanon’s national collections, BeMA initiated an extensive archiving and digitisation project in 2023, encompassing Tarazi’s full press archive from 1993 to 2023 alongside his complete artistic production. In recent years, the Beirut Museum of Art (BeMA) has played a central role in recognising and safeguarding the legacy of Gebran Tarazi. This long-term effort positions Tarazi’s work within an institutional framework of care, research, and public memory, ensuring its accessibility for future generations and affirming its significance within Lebanon’s cultural heritage.