Rashid Diab
Women
About the SessionNAIROBI – Following their successful collaboration in 2025, Strauss & Co, Africa’s leading auction house, and Danda Jaroljmek, Director of Art Auction East Africa, will present Art Auction East Africa | Strauss & Co, a 67-lot sale bringing together modern and contemporary art from East Africa and the wider continent. The live-virtual sale will be held at Circle Art Gallery in Nairobi on Wednesday, 28 October, 2026, 7pm EAT. The catalogue spans a diversity of East African countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda, alongside works by artists from Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Nigeria. Works on paper, photography and sculpture complements the strong painting consignment. “The selection invites collectors to discover East Africa’s diverse modernist histories, particularly those beyond the Anglophone world,” says Susie Goodman. “In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in East African modernists, with artists associated with the Khartoum School shown in museums and fairs globally. Our work as an auction house rooted in Africa is ensuring this rediscovery is not temporary. We are delighted to partner with Danda Jaroljmek in cultivating a sustainable secondary market for East African modernists active during the era of decolonisation and independence.” A preview exhibition will be held at Circle Art Gallery, Victoria Square, Riara Road, Nairobi, during the two weeks preceding the auction on Wednesday, 28 October 2026.
LOT 37
Rashid Diab
Women
About this Item
signed and dated
Provenance
Private Collection.
Notes
One of the most influential Sudanese artists of his generation, Rashid Diab’s practice employs a range of painterly techniques to combine imagery of Sudanese heritage with an awareness of international contemporary artistic developments.
After graduating with a BA (Honours) in Painting from the College of Fine and Applied Arts in Khartoum, Diab received a scholarship to the Complutense University of Madrid, where he studied Painting and Etching. In 1991, he completed a PhD on the Philosophy of Sudanese Art in 1991, also at the Complutense University of Madrid, where he spent the next nine years teaching. His vibrant, abstract works and landscapes are forged from rich African and Arab influences. Usually depicting experiences of migrant Sudanese women.
Rashid Diab returned to Khartoum in 1999, making him one of the few painters of Sudanese origin with an established international career to come back home and dedicate his time and success to the people. Diab established the Dara Art Gallery in Khartoum (the first professional gallery of its kind in the city), and in 2003 he created the Rashid Diab Arts Centre, promoting visual arts and cultural awareness in Sudan. For his dedication, Diab was awarded the Order of Civil Merit knighthood by the former King of Spain in 2013.
Diab’s artwork has been exhibited across Europe, the USA, North Africa and the Middle East and can be found in a number of private and public collections, including the Museum of Fine Art in Cairo, the National Library of Madrid and the Royal Museum of Fine Art in Amman.
Biography courtesy of Circle Art Gallery.
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