Rabab Nemr – Three Figures with a Cat, 1986 – Oil on Canvas, Signed – 72 × 72 cm

A large square oil painting of three mask-like figures with wide, steady eyes, a pale cat standing on an outstretched arm between them. Flat blocky forms in muted rose, grey-blue and ochre, striped passages of pink and brown, and a dark horizon band across the upper edge. Signed in Arabic رباب نمر — Rabab Nemr lower left and dated 86, with a further inscription in red on the reverse of the canvas.

Details

• Artist: Signed Rabab Nemr (Egypt, 1939–2025)
• Year: 1986 (as inscribed)
• Medium: Oil on canvas
• Size: Approx. 72 × 72 cm framed
• Frame: Light wood tray frame
• Signature: Signed and dated in Arabic lower left; inscribed in Arabic in red on the reverse, with a further inscription in black
• Provenance: Acquired from a private clearance in the UAE

About the artist

Rabab Nemr was born in Alexandria and trained at the Faculty of Fine Arts there, graduating in 1963, before earning a doctorate from the San Fernando Academy in Madrid in 1977. Her awards include the Merit Prize in Drawing at the General National Exhibition of 1981–82, the Merit Prize at the Sharjah Biennale in 1994 and the Jury Prize at the Cairo International Biennale in 1997. Her work is held in the Museum of Modern Art in Cairo and the museum of the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, among others. She died in 2025.

Auction cataloguing describes the early part of her career — the late 1970s and 1980s — as the period in which she painted larger-than-life figures drawn from mythological legend and local folklore, naively rendered in pastel shades, the figures wide-eyed and seemingly frozen in time, with a subdued and playful melancholy. From 2006 onward she moved away from oil on canvas to ink on paper. This painting belongs to that earlier, and now scarcer, oil period.

How we arrived at the price

We would rather show our working than ask you to take a number on trust.

• Nemr's work has been offered at auction repeatedly, with realised prices reported from roughly USD 4,850 to 69,300. The record stands at USD 69,300 for an untitled work sold at Christie's Dubai in 2025.
• At Bonhams, The Human No. 3 realised £28,160 and Mythical Creature £16,640, both including premium.
• A directly comparable lot — untitled, signed in Arabic Rabab Nemr 87 lower left, inscribed in Arabic on the reverse, oil, 79.9 × 79.9 cm — has passed through the salerooms. Our painting shares the square format, the signature position, the reverse inscription and the date, one year earlier.
• Working against the price: it is offered without a certificate of authenticity or gallery paperwork, and it is slightly smaller than that comparable lot.

On that basis we have priced it at AED 80,000, roughly £17,300 — in line with the Mythical Creature result and well below the upper end of her range. If you have market evidence that points elsewhere, tell us; we would rather have the conversation than defend a number.

Condition

Used. Paint surface sound, colours strong, no visible restoration. Light age-related wear and some handling marks to the frame edges. Photographed as it is, unretouched. Further condition photographs of any area on request.

Authenticity

The painting is signed and dated on the front and inscribed again on the reverse, and its format, palette and subject are consistent with documented works from the artist's oil period. It is nonetheless offered exactly as it came to us, without a certificate of authenticity or gallery paperwork, and we make no claim beyond what is inscribed on the work and visible in the photographs. At this level we expect and encourage buyers to arrange their own examination — we will hold the painting and provide any further photographs, measurements or access to an appraiser you appoint.

Viewing and delivery

Available to view by appointment at our warehouse. Delivered by hand within the UAE. Shipped worldwide, crated and insured; duties and import VAT are payable by the buyer in the destination country, and many countries apply a reduced import VAT rate to original works of art.

لوحة زيتية مربعة تصوّر ثلاثة وجوه وقطة، موقّعة بالعربية «رباب نمر» ومؤرخة ٨٦ في الأسفل إلى اليسار، مع توقيع آخر بالأحمر على ظهر القماش. نحو ٧٢ × ٧٢ سم مع الإطار. رباب نمر (مصر، ١٩٣٩–٢٠٢٥) من الإسكندرية، وأعمالها مقتناة في متحف الفن الحديث بالقاهرة ومتحف معهد العالم العربي في باريس.

كيف حددنا السعر: تراوحت أسعار أعمالها في المزادات بين ٤٬٨٥٠ و٦٩٬٣٠٠ دولار، وحققت لوحتان لدى بونهامز ٢٨٬١٦٠ و١٦٬٦٤٠ جنيه إسترليني. ولأن هذه اللوحة تُباع دون شهادة أصالة، حددنا السعر بـ ٨٠٬٠٠٠ درهم.