Doha will join Basel, Miami Beach, Hong Kong, and Paris as an Art Basel host city when the fair launches its newest iteration in February 2026. Today’s announcement introduces Art Basel Qatar as an unprecedented partnership between Art Basel’s parent company, MCH Group, Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), and cultural strategists QC+, marking a strategic expansion into the Middle East’s flourishing art scene.
Slated to unfold across M7 creative hub and the Doha Design District—both cornerstones of the Msheireb downtown regeneration—Art Basel Qatar arrives as the Gulf nation cements its status as a global arts nexus. The fair will operate as a tightly curated showcase, spotlighting leading galleries from the MENA region, South Asia, and beyond while embedding itself within Qatar’s cultural ecosystem through year-round programming. Its location, adjacent to Jean Nouvel’s National Museum of Qatar, underscores the country’s ambition to intertwine artistic commerce with institutional rigour.
The venture builds upon two decades of calculated cultural investment by Qatar Museums, chaired by Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani. Under her leadership, the nation has amassed world-class collections, inaugurated institutions like the 3-2-1 Olympic Sports Museum, and secured a permanent pavilion in Venice’s Giardini—all pillars of Qatar’s National Vision 2030 diversification strategy. “Culture and creative industries are central to our knowledge-based economy,” Sheikha Al Mayassa noted, framing the Art Basel partnership as a catalyst for regional talent.
For QSI, the deal extends a playbook honed through sports investments, most visibly during the 2022 FIFA World Cup, into cultural diplomacy. Chairman Nasser Al-Khelaïfi emphasised the shared capacity of art and sport to “unite people,” while QC+ brings localised expertise in audience engagement to the tripartite collaboration.
Art Basel CEO Noah Horowitz highlighted the MENA region’s “exponential” artistic growth as key to the expansion, though the fair’s model will adapt to Doha’s distinct context. Unlike its sister events, the Qatari edition will foreground market development alongside gallery presentations, with educational initiatives to nurture collectors.
The announcement follows Art Basel’s 2022 Paris debut and signals MCH Group’s appetite for strategic growth. Chairman Andrea Zappia called the partnership “groundbreaking,” stressing commitments to long-term investment in Qatar’s cultural-tourism vision. As construction continues on the Lusail Museum and Art Mill Museum, Art Basel Qatar appears poised to become a linchpin in the Gulf’s next chapter of artistic ambition, where commerce, curation, and nation-building converge.
Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa Bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Chairperson of Qatar Museums (QM), said, “As part of His Highness the Amir’s National Vision 2030, Qatar has been transforming itself into a knowledge-based economy, with culture and the creative industries helping to lead the way. We have built a thriving ecosystem of culture and sports, harnessing the capacity of both to break down barriers, create shared experiences, increase understanding and drive positive change. We have opened the National Museum of Qatar and the 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum, and this year we will launch the Lusail Museum and DADU: Children’s Museum of Qatar. We have also opened a variety of creative hubs — from the Fire Station: Artist in Residence to M7 and Liwan Design Studios and Labs. When we welcomed the world to Hamad International Airport for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, the power of merging culture with sports could not have been more evident. As Qatar Museums marks its twentieth anniversary, we are pleased to welcome the Art Basel organisation as our partner to further elevate Qatar’s initiatives to support the creative industries of our region, offering exceptional new artistic experiences and opportunities to our talent.”
His Excellency Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, Chairman of Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), said, “As a leading investor in sports, culture, entertainment and lifestyle, QSI is very proud and excited to play a role in bringing the world-renowned Art Basel fair to Qatar and our region as part of the legacy of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. As that event demonstrated so unforgettably, sports and culture are closely linked in their capacity to unite people and bring the world together, which is at the heart of QSI’s mission. We are delighted to work with QC+ and to welcome Art Basel to Qatar—a partnership that will inspire the region and bring further investment to a great cultural organisation.”
Top Photo: Art Basel Qatar © Artlyst
