Manal Saleh 


Mohammed Al Saleem, Al Ahilla (The Crescents), 1985. Steel. Western Metro Station, Riyadh. Photograph courtesy of Riyadh Art, 2026. © Mohammed Al Saleem

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – October 24, 2026 – Riyadh Art announces the addition of seven monumental sculptures by pioneering Saudi artist Mohammed Al Saleem to the Riyadh Art permanent collection. Six works have been installed at Western Metro Station on Line 3 (Orange Line) in Riyadh, with the seventh scheduled for installation at a later date. The sculptures bring an important part of Al Saleem’s artistic practice into the city for which they were originally conceived.



Created in 1985 for a Riyadh Municipality public art competition but never installed, the seven works remained in Al Saleem’s workshop for decades. In 2022, the Royal Commission for Riyadh City acquired the sculptures and undertook their restoration and conservation, supervised by his daughter, Najla Mohammed Al Saleem, and Al Saleem’s foundation, Dar Al-Funoon Al-Sa’udiyyah, to preserve the artist’s original vision.



The seven works are Al Showkah Al Khumasiyah (The Pentagon Thorn), Shurfa (Parapet Merlon), Al Kurah (The Ball), Al Mouthalathat (The Triangles), Bur’aum Al Zahrah (The Flower Bud), and Al Ahilla (The Crescents), all installed this August, with Al Nafourah Al Halazouniyah (The Spiral Fountain) due to be installed at a later date. Drawing on desert landscapes, Najdi architecture, geometric forms, and celestial references, the sculptures reflect Al Saleem’s distinctive approach to abstraction and the influence of Riyadh and Najd on his practice.


Created by Saudi-based architecture and engineering consultancy Omrania, the Western Metro Station reinterprets desert sand dunes through earth-colored forms that define entrances, allow natural light, and provide shade for pedestrians. Located within Western Station’s outdoor plaza, the works bring these references into a contemporary public setting shaped by movement and connection. Their permanent installation realizes their original purpose as public sculptures in Riyadh more than four decades after they were conceived.



“Mohammed Al Saleem holds an important place in the history of modern Saudi art, and his work is deeply connected to Riyadh and the landscape and architecture of Najd,” said Bader AlShenaifi, Senior Director of Riyadh Art. “Bringing these works into the Riyadh Art permanent collection preserves an important part of Saudi Arabia’s artistic heritage while giving Al Saleem’s work a lasting presence in the public life of the city that inspired so much of his practice.”

The works join the Riyadh Art permanent collection, a citywide collection of public artworks installed across neighborhoods, public spaces, and major transport corridors throughout the capital. With Golden Dunes by Zaman Jassim and Rhythm of The Nation by Ahmad Angawi among its installed works, the Riyadh Art permanent collection now comprises 82 artworks across the capital.

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About Riyadh Art
Riyadh Art is one of Riyadh’s four original mega projects under Vision 2030 and is led by the Royal Commission for Riyadh City. Launched in 2019, Riyadh Art was developed to support the capital’s transformation, enrich lives, and encourage creative expression and cross-cultural dialogue through public art. The Riyadh Art permanent collection brings together commissioned and acquired works by Saudi and international artists, installed across public spaces and shaped by their surroundings and by the movement of people through the city. The collection includes works by leading Saudi and international artists, contributing to Riyadh’s growing creative landscape and supporting the development of a more beautiful, accessible, and culturally engaged city.

Mohammed Al Saleem (b. 1939, d. 1997) was a pioneering Saudi artist and a foundational figure in the development of modern art in the Kingdom. He held the first art exhibition in Riyadh in 1967 and developed his distinctive “horizonism” style, inspired by observations of the city’s skyline from the surrounding desert. The landscape of Najd remained central to his practice, informing his exploration of abstraction, form, and space.

In the 1970s, Al Saleem designed public sculptures for Riyadh and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, where he received a diploma in decoration. In 1979, he founded Dar Al-Funoon Al-Sa’udiyyah, Riyadh’s first art house.

In 1985, he developed seven monumental sculptures for a Riyadh Municipality public art competition. The unrealized works remained in his workshop until acquired by Riyadh Art in 2022 and later restored. Five were presented at Desert X AlUla 2026, before six were installed as part of Riyadh Art’s permanent collection, with the seventh scheduled for installation at a later date.