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https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/dec/07/world-record-da-vinci-painting-to-
be-exhibited-at-louvre-abu-dhabi

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo's Salvator Mundi: Abu Dhabi bought world's

most expensive painting
Louvre Abu Dhabi to display artwork sold for $450m as buyer is revealed as emirate’s culture
ministry

A visitor takes a photo of the painting Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci at Christie’s
New York auction house. Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Kareem Shaheen and agencies

Friday 8 December 2017 20.08 GMT

Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of Jesus Christ, which was sold for a record $450m (£335m) at
auction last month, was acquired by Abu Dhabi’s department of culture and tourism,
according to Christie’s in New York.

The announcement was the latest twist in a saga over the painting after it was reported that the
buyer was the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

“Christie’s can confirm that the department of culture and tourism, Abu Dhabi, is acquiring
Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci,” the auction house said in a statement on Friday. “We
are delighted to see that this remarkable painting will be available for public view at the
Louvre Abu Dhabi.”
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The painting was purchased by a then unidentified bidder via telephone after a protracted
contest lasting nearly 20 minutes at the auction house.

The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. Photograph: Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters

A document seen by Reuters showed that a little-known Saudi prince, Badr bin Abdullah al
Saud, was authorised to purchase the painting on behalf of the Abu Dhabi culture ministry.

On Thursday, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported that US intelligence
assessments had identified Bin Salman, the powerful heir to the Saudi throne, as the true
buyer of the painting, with Bin Abdullah acting as an intermediary.

But on Friday, the Louvre Abu Dhabi said the country’s culture ministry had acquired the
painting.

The museum announced this week that it would go on display there, in a coup for the
institution and its backers, the rulers of the United Arab Emirates, who are key allies of Bin
Salman in a tumultuous time for the Gulf states.

Friday’s developments further tie the saga of the painting to the intrigues in the kingdom, and
may prove embarrassing to Bin Salman due to an ongoing anti-corruption drive. This week
Saudi officials said 159 businessmen and princes had been detained at the Ritz-Carlton as part
of the campaign, and the bank accounts of 376 people had been frozen.

Timeline

The 10 most expensive works of art sold at auction

It is also likely to raise concerns among religious clerics, key pillars of authority in the
kingdom. The painting glorifies Christ, who Muslims believe was a prophet rather than a
divine being, and conservative scholars disapprove of the portrayal of God’s messengers in
artwork.

Bin Salman has repeatedly challenged the authority of the clerics, weakening the power of the
morality police and granting women the right to drive. He has pledged to return Saudi Arabia,
a bastion of a conservative strain of the faith, to moderate Islam.
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On Thursday, Bin Abdullah published a statement saying the New York Times report
revealing him as the buyer was riddled with inaccuracies, but he stopped short of denying that
he purchased the painting and did not say whether Bin Salman played a role.

Bin Abdullah is the treasurer of a committee charged with developing a region in Saudi
Arabia that contains many sites of archaeological interest, including Mada’in Salih, a
Nabatean ruin that is believed to be where an ancient prophet described in the Qur’an lived.

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Topics

• Leonardo da Vinci

• United Arab Emirates

• Middle East and North Africa
• Art
• The art market
• news
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/24/i-will-return-saudi-arabia-moderate-islam-
crown-prince

Saudi Arabia

I will return Saudi Arabia to moderate Islam, says crown prince

Mohammed bin Salman tells the Guardian that ultra-conservative state has been ‘not normal’
for past 30 years

The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, told the Guardian the rigid doctrines of the
past three decades were the result of not knowing how to deal with the Iranian revolution.
Photograph: Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images

Martin Chulov in Riyadh

Tuesday 24 October 2017 19.24 BST

This article is 1 month old

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has vowed to return the country to
“moderate Islam” and asked for global support to transform the hardline kingdom into an
open society that empowers citizens and lures investors.

Mohammed bin Salman al-Saud: the hothead who would be king

Read more

In an interview with the Guardian, the powerful heir to the Saudi throne said the ultra-
conservative state had been “not normal” for the past 30 years, blaming rigid doctrines that
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have governed society in a reaction to the Iranian revolution, which successive leaders “didn’t
know how to deal with”.

Expanding on comments he made at an investment conference at which he announced the

launch of an ambitious $500bn (£381bn) independent economic zone straddling Saudi Arabia,
Jordan and Egypt, Prince Mohammed said: “We are a G20 country. One of the biggest world
economies. We’re in the middle of three continents. Changing Saudi Arabia for the better
means helping the region and changing the world. So this is what we are trying to do here.
And we hope we get support from everyone.

“What happened in the last 30 years is not Saudi Arabia. What happened in the region in the
last 30 years is not the Middle East. After the Iranian revolution in 1979, people wanted to
copy this model in different countries, one of them is Saudi Arabia. We didn’t know how to
deal with it. And the problem spread all over the world. Now is the time to get rid of it.”

Earlier Prince Mohammed had said: “We are simply reverting to what we followed – a
moderate Islam open to the world and all religions. 70% of the Saudis are younger than 30,
honestly we won’t waste 30 years of our life combating extremist thoughts, we will destroy
them now and immediately.”

The crown prince’s comments are the most emphatic he has made during a six-month reform
programme that has tabled cultural reforms and economic incentives unimaginable during
recent decades, during which the kingdom has been accused of promoting a brand of Islam
that underwrote extremism.

The comments were made as the heir of the incumbent monarch moves to consolidate his
authority, sidelining clerics whom he believes have failed to support him and demanding
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unquestioning loyalty from senior officials whom he has entrusted to drive a 15-year reform
programme that aims to overhaul most aspects of life in Saudi Arabia.

Central to the reforms has been the breaking of an alliance between hardline clerics who have
long defined the national character and the House of Saud, which has run affairs of state. The
changes have tackled head-on societal taboos such as the recently rescinded ban on women
driving, as well as scaling back guardianship laws that restrict women’s roles and establishing
an Islamic centre tasked with certifying the sayings of the prophet Muhammed.

A woman sits behind the wheel of a car in Riyadh last month. Photograph: STR/EPA

The scale and scope of the reforms has been unprecedented in the country’s modern history
and concerns remain that a deeply conservative base will oppose what is effectively a cultural
revolution – and that the kingdom lacks the capacity to follow through on its economic
ambitions.

The new economic zone is to be established on 470km of the Red Sea coast, in a tourist area
that has already been earmarked as a liberal hub akin to Dubai, where male and female
bathers are free to mingle.

It has been unveiled as the centrepiece of efforts to turn the kingdom away from a near total
dependence on oil and into a diverse open economy. Obstacles remain: an entrenched poor
work ethic, a crippling regulatory environment and a general reluctance to change.

“Economic transformation is important but equally essential is social transformation,” said

one of the country’s leading businessmen. “You cannot achieve one without the other. The
speed of social transformation is key. It has to be manageable.”

Alcohol, cinemas and theatres are still banned in the kingdom and mingling between
unrelated men and women remains frowned upon. However Saudi Arabia – an absolute
monarchy – has clipped the wings of the once-feared religious police, who no longer have
powers to arrest and are seen to be falling in line with the new regime.
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Economically Saudi Arabia will need huge resources if it is to succeed in putting its economy
on a new footing and its leadership believes it will fail to generate strategic investments if it
does not also table broad social reforms.

Prince Mohammed had repeatedly insisted that without establishing a new social contract
between citizen and state, economic rehabilitation would fail. “This is about giving kids a
social life,” said a senior Saudi royal figure. “Entertainment needs to be an option for them.
They are bored and resentful. A woman needs to be able to drive herself to work. Without that
we are all doomed. Everyone knows that – except the people in small towns. But they will
learn.”

A screengrab from the promotional video for Saudi Arabia’s new economic zone. Photograph:
YouTube

In the next 10 years, at least five million Saudis are likely to enter the country’s workforce,
posing a huge problem for officials who currently do not have jobs to offer them or tangible
plans to generate employment.

The economic zone is due to be completed by 2025 – five years before the current cap on the
reform programme – and is to be powered by wind and solar energy, according to its
founders.

The country’s enormous sovereign wealth fund is intended to be a key backer of the
independent zone. It currently has $230bn under management. The sale of 5% of the world’s
largest company, Aramco, is expected to raise several hundred billion dollars more.