07/15/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 07/15/2025 03:05
The popularity of contemporary Moroccan artists appears to be faltering, even for the most established among them. Will the predicted growth of the Middle Eastern art market set the scene for a healthy rebound?
In certain places and at certain times, the art auction world can be highly unpredictable, sometimes following a path that completely disobeys the notion of a linear and virtuous price progression. And this type of dynamic can be both positive and negative, impacting both lesser-known and well-established artists at the same time.
For example, If we look at the recent history of the Moroccan art market, we see a surprisingly negative price evolution that raises significant questions about the promotion and support of the country's artists, ten years after the arrival - successful at the time - of new artists at auction.
Sections:
A good start… but not sustained
Laborious sales and price erosion
Mounir Fatmi: a prestigious career but weak demand
Opportunities and glimmers of hope
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About ten years ago, the Compagnie Marocaine des Œuvres & Objets d'Art (CMOOA) enjoyed growing auction turnover, and the French auction house Piasa also occasionally hosted successful sales of Moroccan artworks. There was a clear ambition to test the market by introducing emerging Moroccan talents who had already been exhibited internationally and received international awards. But, although this initiative got off to a good start, the momentum was short-lived.
Works by Mohsin Harraki, Zainab Andalibe, Hanane El Farissi, Hicham Gardaf, Chourouk Hriech, Randa Maroufi, Amina Rezki appeared for sale at the CMOOA in the mid-2010s, but despite an initial flurry of enthusiasm, their markets quickly faded.
We can see a similar phenomenon in works by Younes Baba Ali. A young man in his thirties at the time of his auction debut, he seemed destined for a bright future. Winner of the Léopold Sédar Senghor Prize at the Dakar Biennale in 2012 and the Boghossian Prize at the Art'Contest in Brussels in 2014, he was clearly on an ascending path. In 2016, his photograph Kit mains libres (2014) fetched $3,440 in Marrakech, a sale that could have marked the beginning of a buoyant secondary market. However, subsequent propositions, whether in Morocco or France, all failed. Neither his participation in Documenta 14 in Berlin (2017), nor his presence in public collections such as that of the Mu.ZEE in Ostend were enough to attract bidders.
Contemporary Moroccan artists (born after 1945): auction turnover (copyright Artprice.com)
Betting on artists whose demand is still in its infancy is always a risky business. At auction, enthusiasm can propel prices to new heights, but if the market doesn't immediately catch on, repeated proposals and auction failures can permanently damage a career. If there is no sign of a rapid consolidation, the auction houses simply drop the artist(s) in question. This is of course, a strategic choice, but also a symptom of a market that does not always react in a uniform way to good results.
When an artist lacks support on the secondary market, reselling a work can become a real obstacle- even when it has belonged to influential people.
This is precisely what happened to Dans (2012), a large canvas by Hamid El Kanbouhi, an artist based in Amsterdam. Although it was part of the prestigious collection of dealer and art collector Charles Saatchi, the work had to be offered five times before finding a buyer. Its final price was barely $5,000 in 2021 at Bonhams in London, a house where the Saatchi provenance is usually a golden passport to a good result.
But such laborious sales are not the worst. The real damage comes from price erosion. And that is exactly what has happened to several Moroccan artists, whose auction prices are crumbling instead of consolidating… a paradox given that their work is sometimes recognized and appreciated internationally.
The numbers speak for themselves. In a decade, the annual auction turnover on Lalla ESSAYDI (1956)'s calligraphed photographs has been divided by five, while works in Latifa ECHAKHCH (1974) Tambour series, which could once exceed $100,000, are struggling to find buyers at half that amount. A market that is slowing down, where it should, in theory, be growing. Even the most prominent artists have not been spared. Mounir FATMI (1970), another one of the few Moroccan contemporaries to have achieved six-figure auction prices, embodies this paradox.
Lalla ESSAYDI (1956), Bullets Revisited #6 (2012) Pigment print published by Nazraeli Press (30.8 x 24.1 cm, Ed. 6 / 100)
Estimation: 2,000 $ - 3,000 $. Hammer price: $1,600 Swann Galleries, New York, 08 May 2025
Mounir Fatmi is one of the most renowned Contemporary Moroccan artists. His career has been marked by participation in several biennial art fairs, including Venice, Sharjah, Dakar, Gwangju, and Lyon, as well as prestigious group exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and even the Louvre in Abu Dhabi. He has also received numerous awards for his work. But despite this institutional recognition, the artist's work is still struggling to find a stable price on the auction market.
In the past, Mounir Fatmi's work has changed hands for handsome sums, reaching a record at $134,500 at Sotheby's Doha in 2010 with Tête Dure (2006). Between 2008 and 2011, 79% of his works found buyers without difficulty. But since 2021, the momentum has clearly slowed: his sold-through rate has fallen to 42% and his best recent auction result, for Al Jazeera (2007), did not exceed $18,800 (Artcurial Marrakech, 30 December 2022). This contraction illustrates market volatility and the difficulty, sometimes, of transforming institutional prestige into lasting market value.
The market for certain Moroccan artists seems to have quietly eroded without any real explanation. This erosion contrasts with the recognition they enjoy in institutional circles.
Take for example the case of Rachid BEN ALI (1978). In the 2000s, his drawings and oil paintings carried estimates at between $1,000 and $2,000, already very modest prices. Yet today, his works sell for between $200 and $800 in auction rooms, a paltry sum for an artist whose talent has gotten him into the permanent collection of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
Another striking example is that of Wafae AHALOUCH EL KERIASTI (1978). Trained at the Fine Arts Schools of Utrecht and Amsterdam, present in several foreign institutional collections, and a former artist-in-residence at the Wiels Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgium. Her solid CV should have strengthened her market value. And yet, the opposite has happened. It's as though collectors have forgotten to activate their email alerts to follow her auctions…
In 2022, one of her acrylics sold for less than $1,000 at Adams Amsterdam Auctions. In the art world, that is almost a 'symbolic price', far from the levels reached before 2010. In 2008, her large canvas Clockwork (2007) reached $13,000 in Casablanca, but since then, no works of that size have appeared at auction…
The case of Aziz AMRANI (1970) also illustrates this lack of long-term support. A painter based in Chefchaouen and a visual arts teacher, he attracted the interest of foreign collectors thanks to several group exhibitions in Paris and Barcelona. His market seemed to be on the right track: twenty years ago, his paintings sold for around $5,000 at Boisgirard in Paris.
Aziz AMRANI (1970), Untitled. Mixed media/canvas, 72 x 130 cm
Estimate: $517 - $620. Not sold. Mazad and Art, Tangier, April 28, 2019
But this momentum was not maintained. The Parisian sales did not continue, and his popularity gradually faded on the Moroccan market. As collectors turned away from auctions, his prices fell: within a few years, his works were only finding buyers at a few hundred dollars each. Worse still, his secondary market literally dried up completely. Over the last five years, none of his works have reappeared at auction.
Such a lack of support means that some artists will see their popularity diminish or even disappear completely from auction rooms, a worrying trend that questions the way the Moroccan art market has functioned since the auction debuts of new artists ten years ago.
However, while this market lethargy hampers the construction of solid reputations for Moroccan artists, it also opens up remarkable acquisition opportunities. In 2023, at the Mazad and Art Marrakech charity sale, a large photograph by Mohamed El Baz (died 2024) sold for just $606. More recently, a delicate installation by Latifa Echakhch - sculptures in paper blackened with Indian ink - sold for just $1,280 at Bonhams in New York (Les Petites Lettres, 2009), below the $2,000 - $3,000 estimate.
Another example: an acrylic by Aicha FILALI (1956), which had reached $16,080 in 2009 at Phillips de Pury in London, was offered for less than $1,000 last May at Roseberys in London. A slow market, certainly. But for savvy collectors, a golden opportunity.
Some artists still manage to stand out, like Mous LAMRABAT (1983), a Belgian-Moroccan photographer, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent, who saw one of his works sell at just the right moment. His photograph This is not a Magritte ( 2019), soared to $19,200 at Phillips in London on 21 November 2024, two days after a work by René Magritte set a new record for the artist at over $121 million in New York. Did the surreal wave inspired by that result lift the value of Lamrabat's audacious homage? In any case, his offbeat 'interpretation' sold at the top-end of its estimated range by capturing the 'spirit of the times', showing that favorable reactions by the art market can also be a question of timing.
Can we expect brighter times ahead for these Contemporary artists? It's possible. Although auction activity is currently stalling, the dynamism of the Middle East could well offer new opportunities. The rise of museums and exhibitions in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the opening of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi announced for the beginning of 2026, the first Art Basel Qatar in Doha at the same time, and the recent commercial licenses given to Sotheby's and Christie's to host sales in Saudi Arabia are all potentially positive factors for Moroccan artists.
These developments reflect the growing importance of the Arab-Muslim region in the global art market, and they could well restore visibility and value to Contemporary artists from that part of the world.
Find part of this analysis in our partner magazine Diptych.