Often described as the “Mona Lisa of Hijaz,” the self-portrait, "Al Zaboon" captures Saudi artist Safeya Binzagr aligning herself with a dignified, modern Hijazi woman whose identity is rooted in traditional dress. The title, meaning “the customer” in everyday Arabic, also names the long tailored zabun garment itself, linking the sitter to the intimate worlds of tailors, markets, and women’s domestic gatherings where such clothes were chosen and commissioned. She sits in an ornate chair with her calm, steady gaze meeting ours. Her medium-brown skin is softly modeled, framed by dark hair tucked under a white headscarf that wraps closely around her head and neck. She wears a high white collar fastened with small gold buttons, over which a long yellow zabun that is striped and fitted through the torso and falling in sharp pleats. Her hands rest in her lap and along the carved wooden arm. The chair’s inlaid geometric patterns echo round turquoise-and-rose medallions that repeat across a blue wall, surrounding her in a halo of textile-like motifs. In urban Hijazi costume, the zabun is a structured outer dress with a shaped bodice, long sleeves, and decorative fastenings, worn over layers of under-dresses. By painting its sharp yellow stripes, buttons, and flowing skirt with such care, Binzagr turns this everyday garment into a central subject, preserving details that were already beginning to disappear from city streets. Created just after the artist’s return from art school in London, the work combines European portrait conventions with the visual language of local textiles and architecture, reflecting her broader project of researching, collecting, and painting regional dress. Later shown internationally and now a centerpiece of the Darat Safeya Binzagr museum, the self portrait has become an emblem of Saudi women’s presence in art history as both an intimate likeness of the artist and a lasting record of Hijazi cultural memory, fashion, and women’s social spaces.

"Al Zaboon (الزبون)" by Safeya Binzagr / صفية_بن_زقر (Saudi Arabian) - Oil on canvas / 1969 - Darat Safeya Binzagr (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) #WomenInArt #SafeyaBinzagr #صفية_بن_زقر #Binzagr #DaratSafeyaBinzagr #WomensArt #WomanArtist #WomenArtists #artText #BlueskyArt #ArabArt #SaudiArt #SelfPortrait

Van Gogh Style Al-Hasa Oasis & Date - Artful Vision Experience the lush, historical beauty of the Al-Hasa Oasis, Saudi Arabia, depicted in the swirling, expressive style of Van Gogh. This unique watercolor canvas print showcases the stark contrast betw...

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In this vertical head-and-shoulders self-portrait, a light brown–skinned Mona al-Kasabi (منى القصبي) faces us directly against a hazy background of blended cream, yellow, and pale blue strokes. Her straight chestnut hair falls in a smooth, layered blowout around the face to her shoulders before dissolving into the surrounding paint. Her large almond-shaped dark eyes are framed by heavy black liner and long lashes. They hold a steady, frontal gaze beneath high arched brown brows. Her nose is straight and narrow, and her full lips, painted a muted rose pink, rest in a closed, neutral expression. A low scooped neckline is only lightly indicated in pinks that merge with the textured field. At the lower left, a long-haired gray-and-white cat with pointed ears, a small dark nose, and bright green eyes looks out toward us. Its soft fur is rendered in feathery strokes that echo the loose, swirling background. Al-Kasabi’s self-portrait asserts a woman’s presence in a Saudi art scene that, when this was painted, offered few public images of women by women themselves. The steady gaze, styled hair, and precise makeup echo popular ideals of beauty, yet the dissolving background and barely defined neckline hint at a more fragile, interior self. The cat is more than a pet. Its bright green eyes mirror the artist’s stare, turning it into a double or confidant that shares her alertness. Commentators link this canvas to a small series of self-portraits in which al-Kasabi repeats the cat as an alter ego and a sign of independence, curiosity, and quiet defiance. Beyond the her painting prowess, Al-Kasabi’s founding of the Saudi Center for Fine Arts in Jeddah has nurtured generations of artists, so this image also reads as a claim to artistic authority as an Arab woman picturing herself as both subject and maker of culture.

“Self-portrait #1” by Mona al-Kasabi (Saudi Arabian) - Painting on canvas / Late 1980s - Private collection (Saudi Arabia) #WomenInArt #MonaAlKasabi #منى_عبدالله_القصبي #AlKasabi #SaudiArt #SaudiArtist #SelfPortrait #BlueskyArt #ArabWomenArtists #art #artText #WomanArtist #WomensArt #WomenArtists