For most of a century, oil in Saudi Arabia was like water or weather: everywhere and nobody’s subject. The kingdom’s painters gave their canvases to palm trees and dates, dhows and calligraphy, while crude merely paid for the paint. As the kingdom plans for life after oil, crude has become a muse, with art spanning the eras before, during, and after it.
Riyadh’s Black Gold Museum has filled a Zaha Hadid building with more than 350 artworks on the subject, with backing from the culture ministry and the state’s petroleum think tank. In November, Jeddah-born brothers Turki and Abdulrahman Gazzaz will open Post-Oil 2026 at Qatar’s design biennial. Its poster is a still life every Jeddah resident knows, a rooftop of water tanks and air conditioners against a hazy sky. Saudi artists once painted around such scenes; now they are painting, sculpting, and curating them as nostalgic moments born of, and paid for by, the boom.