In a striking demonstration of changed dynamics in the global art world, three Arab cultural figures now occupy three of the top five spots on the 2025 ArtReview Power 100, a shift that until recently would have seemed almost unthinkable.
Topping the list overall is Ibrahim Mahama, the Ghanaian artist whose monumental, socially-engaged works earned him the No. 1 slot. But immediately following him are Arabs: Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al-Thani (second), Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi (third), and Wael Shawky (fourth), with Singaporean artist Ho Tzu Nyen rounding out the top five.
Sheikha Al Mayassa chairs a network of major cultural institutions in Qatar, notably Qatar Museums. Under her guidance, the Gulf has significantly expanded its heritage and contemporary-art infrastructures, amassing impressive collections and creating high-profile exhibition programmes.
Formerly No. 1 in previous years, Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi sits at number three this year. As president and director of Sharjah Art Foundation, she has been a central architect in transforming Sharjah into a major global hub of contemporary art, championing voices from the Global South and ensuring a platform for non-Western narratives.
Meanwhile, Wael Shawky, at number four, brings a different kind of power, that of an artist whose work across film, performance, installation, and puppetry interrogates historical narratives and reimagines collective memory. In 2025 he was appointed artistic director of Art Basel Qatar, placing him at the center of one of the region’s most culturally significant initiatives.
When the Power 100 list was first launched in 2002, the global art world— as mapped by most major institutions, galleries, and critics— was overwhelmingly Western. As sociologists of art have documented, the art world has long been a network of relationships rooted in certain geographies: New York, London, Berlin, Paris.
Over time, however, global economic shifts, increased cultural investment from the Gulf and the Middle East, and a growing appetite for diverse narratives have started to reshape those contours. The expanding infrastructure of museums, biennials, cultural foundations, and art fairs across the Middle East has opened new channels for influence, channels that this year’s list captures powerfully. Critics now point to this year’s results as evidence that older models of museums and galleries, centered in the West, are losing their monopoly on defining what is “global” art.
The influence of the Arab world isn’t limited to the very top. Other Arab figures appearing on the list include Minister of Culture of Saudi Arabia Badr bin Abdullah Al Saud at number 21; Palestinian artist duo Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou‑Rahme together at number 23; Bahraini curator and artist Amal Khalaf at number 43; and Palestinian artist and filmmaker Emily Jacir at number 48.
The Power 100 is the annual ranking published by ArtReview, widely considered the definitive guide to the most influential people and institutions in contemporary art globally. It aims not to measure aesthetic merit, but influence.
Compiled by an anonymous international panel of art-world insiders— artists, curators, gallerists, critics— the list evaluates individuals on the basis of their activity over the previous 12 months, their impact on global visibility of art, and their ability to shape not only creation but dissemination, discourse, and institutional direction.
