As the art season reaches its peak, galleries across the Gulf are offering a rich spectrum of art shows that span from retrospectives to conceptual group shows. From Dubai to Jeddah, the region’s cultural landscape in November 2025 is alive with colour, dialogue, and introspection. Here are our top 10 exhibitions which are worth visiting this month.
1. Caravan of Colors Through Time: A Retrospective of Mona Al Khaja
At Aisha Alabbar Gallery, Caravan of Colors Through Time traces more than 40 years of Emirati painter Mona Al Khaja’s artistic evolution. On view until 5 November 2025, the exhibition charts the development of her distinctive visual language from the early 1980s to today, featuring watercolour and acrylic works that flow seamlessly between abstraction and figuration.
2. Behind the Frame Curated by ATHR Art Handlers
ATHR Gallery in Jeddah (KSA) presents Behind the Frame, a group exhibition dedicated to the often-overlooked work of art handlers. Conceived and curated by the gallery’s own team, the show brings together artworks chosen for their personal resonance and the connections forged behind the scenes. The exhibition will remain open until 2 November 2025.
3. Transmission by Sebastian Hosu
This solo show by Romanian-born artist Sebastian Hosu, on display at Volery Gallery, creates a vivid visual dialogue, where figure and landscape converge in expressive gestures of colour and motion. Based on painting, Hosu’s work meditates on the human condition and the fluid relationships between body, movement, and space. The exhibition will run through 10 November 2025.
4. XVA Gallery: Paper Mythologies in Grey Gardens
Until 13 November 2025, XVA Gallery is hosting Paper Mythologies in Grey Gardens, an exhibition showcasing works by Iranian artist Sarvenaz Farsian and Afghanistani-born artist Alikhaan Abdollahi. This show transports viewers into a poetic landscape where fragmented myths and grey gardens become repositories of silence and absence. Meaning here is not found but constructed through voids, textures, and traces.
5. Sweet Faces by Silvio Porzionato & Laurence Jenkell
Currently, Oblong Contemporary is home to Sweet Faces, a dual exhibition featuring Italian artist Silvio Porzionato and French artist Laurence Jenkell. It unfolds as a visual conversation between Porzionato’s introspective portraits and Jenkell’s Pop-inspired sculptural works, exploring the spectrum between monumentality and playfulness. The exhibition will be open to the public until 15 November 2025.
6. 1×1 Art Gallery: Of Thread, Fire, & Light
At 1×1 Art Gallery, Of Thread, Fire, & Light brings together textile artist Sina Dyks, the HF Legacy collective, and IRDS Studio in a multi-sensory exhibition exploring materiality, transformation, and the elemental. Each participant activates a distinct dimension of the show’s conceptual framework. The exhibition will run through 15 November 2025.
7. Abu Dhabi Art 2025
Returning for its 17th edition from 19 to 23 November, Abu Dhabi Art transforms Manarat Al Saadiyat into a global art hub. The fair will feature 2,000+ artworks from more than 140 galleries that represent 37 countries and 52 cities. This year’s edition shines a spotlight on dynamic art scenes from Nigeria, the Gulf, and Türkiye, while welcoming new participants from Senegal, the Netherlands, Peru, and Tanzania.
8. Unfolded Layers by Ahmet Oran
Sevil Dolmacı Gallery Dubai presents Unfolded Layers, a solo exhibition by abstract artist Ahmet Oran, on view until 20 November 2025. The show delves into Oran’s long-term exploration of surface, transparency, and memory, revealing how painting can serve as a meditative unfolding of time and perception.
9. AMINA ILLUMINATI Group Show
RARARES Gallery’s AMINA ILLUMINATI offers visitors the opportunity to contemplate light, matter, and memory as fragile, transformative processes. The exhibition brings together five artists and reflects on the politics of visibility, where illumination is not revelation but a threshold between concealment and emergence. The show will be on display until 21 November 2025.
10. They Call Me Divine by Amina Yahia
Meanwhile, Hunna Art Gallery is holding They Call Me Divine, a solo exhibition by Egyptian artist Amina Yahia, running through 26 November 2025. In her latest series, Yahia turns her gaze toward the delicate social and environmental architectures that sustain everyday life in contemporary Egypt. The exhibited artworks translate collective experience into an intimate visual language of gesture and atmosphere.
In addition, you might be interested in visiting A Seat at the Table: Food & Feasting in the Islamic World and The Only Way Out Is Through: The Twentieth Line.
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