The art world's biggest spender is 'placed under house arrest'

Telegraph
(Filed: 13/03/2005)
Sheikh Saud Al Thani spent a decade outbidding all-comers in the auction rooms. Now he has been sacked by his own cousin, the ruler of Qatar, writes Chris Hastings



The world's biggest art collector, Sheikh Saud Al Thani of Qatar, who has spent hundreds of millions of pounds during the last decade buying some of the most important works, has been placed under house arrest after being abruptly removed as head of his country's national council for culture.

According to a report today on the internet site of The Art Newspaper, Sheikh Saud, whose collections include millions of pounds' worth of British art, has been held incommunicado since the end of February on the orders of his cousin, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who has asked Qatari authorities to investigate his cousin's acquisitions.

News of his arrest has astonished the international art scene, where Sheikh Saud had a reputation for paying as much as 113 times the estimated price for items he particularly wanted. Apart from being a substantial private collector, Sheikh Saud had been given responsibility for using state funds to buy work for five new museums in Qatar, which has been trying to transform itself into the cultural capital of the Middle East.

British friends and London-based dealers who have worked with Sheikh Saud insisted that he was the victim of a palace coup. One British dealer who has worked with him extensively and asked not to be named told The Telegraph last night: "There are a lot of people in positions of power who don't like what he is trying to do."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/03/13/wsaud13.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/03/13/ixnewstop.html

Independent
By Terry Kirby Chief Reporter
12 March 2005


For years, the world's art market has been at his disposal as, armed with a seemingly bottomless purse, he spent millions of oil dollars on some of the most dazzling treasures ever to go on open sale. The only items he was interested in, he said, were masterpieces.

But now the slender and bespectacled figure of Sheikh Saud bin Mohammed al-Thani has suddenly disappeared from the frontline of the globe's art market and things may never be quite the same again.

As chairman of the Council for Culture, Arts and Heritage of Qatar, Sheikh Saud has spend countless millions over the past few years touring the world and acquiring mainly Islamic artefacts for a series of museums planned for his country's capital, Doha. At the same time, he has also built up an extensive and more wide-ranging private collection.

But now, European art dealers and auction houses have been told that he has been replaced as chairman of the council by Mohamed Kafoud, a professor of Arab literature. No explanation for his removal has been given, but some report suggests a difference of opinion with the Emir of Qatar, who also happens to be his cousin, over the boundaries between the sheikh's private collection and the national one.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.j...

Time somebody stopped the fool.

The article says 113 times the value. That's 11300% (If the article is correct...)
I think you are probably correct in reality. I can't imagine a painting valued at, say, $100,000.00 going for $11,300,00.00. But then, all of my "art" is made up of museum gift shop prints.

this guy wanted - I might be able to get $100 for something yet. ;-)