The "Evidence of Art" exhibition held by the Saudi Ministry of Culture continues to open its doors to those interested and concerned with Saudi fine art until the sixth of November 2021, where it displays a new artistic experience composed of model paintings representing fine art over the last fifty years, while continuing to provide its cultural programs that introduce elements of this art, its schools, and trends, and the most prominent paintings that formed an aesthetic and artistic trace in the journey of fine art, as it presents the experiences of a large number of artists who formed the of this art in color, formation, and creativity, and the impact of spatial vision in forming artistic paintings.

The exhibition, held at the National Museum in Riyadh, also includes a main display of artistic works acquired by "Youth Welfare," monitoring the Saudi fine movement, along with side branch displays focusing on the most prominent artistic works of selected artists. It also hosts speakers interested in arts in weekly pulpit sessions throughout the duration of its holding.

The selected works in the exhibition represent the organizational movement of visual arts when they were under the system of the General Presidency for Youth Welfare, then what the Royal Commission for Riyadh City Development did since it received them in 2015 and the inventory, sorting, and documentation processes that were carried out for those works, and then saving and delivering them to the Ministry of Culture as a host for arts and preparation for display and archiving as a visual history of fine arts over the last fifty years.

The exhibition reviews a sample from that collection reflecting the sequence and development of Saudi art, while its sub-displays address the experience of five artists who participated in a number of competitions and exhibitions since their beginning and continued in developing their talents.

Artistic Features:

On October 27, 2021, the "Evidence of Art" exhibition held a dialogue session titled "Art Patronage and the extent of its civilizational impact on society" at the National Museum in Riyadh, within cultural and artistic sessions and lectures accompanying the exhibition.

The Egyptian fine artist Ehab El-Labban began his talk in the dialogue moderated by Dr. Razan Al-Hazzaa about the role of art in elevating the life of the individual and society, explaining that arts are firm foundations for all societies, from which culture of various types starts to form the intellectual features of individuals and form orientations and opinions mostly according to his words. He cited Egyptian cinema when it affected consciousness and behavior in a previous period, indicating the soft hands of arts that reach the point of formulating sound orientations and a cultured awareness from which society sets out.

Regarding the contribution of states in patronizing arts, he stressed that the role of ,vernment institutions is of utmost importance, considering them the primary and basic supporter of the cultural product.

He pointed out that Arab societies need to transform from cultural production to cultural investment, and transforming arts into a societal necessity, as he believes the Arab world is moving step by step toward this transformation which requires sufficient time for the success of the process.

El-Labban stated that the works of Saudi artists who received support from Youth Welfare previously have experiences and external participations confirming that support is a way to such success.

A dialogue session was also held titled "Features of Saudi Visual Arts from Modernity to Contemporaneity," in which Dr. Mohammed Al-Rassis, Dr. Eman Al-Jibreen, and Faisal Al-Khudaidi participated, moderated by Dr. Kholoud Al-Baqami. The dialogue covered several axes including: prevailing trends and methods in the first artistic generation and their transformation through subsequent generations, the presence of the Saudi female artist and the most prominent challenges she faced in the beginning, the role of artistic groups and distributing artistic movement over cities, and the development of subjects and sources of inspiration across the history of Saudi art, as well as the obstacles of the contemporary leap in thought and style, and the Internet revolution and technical and industrial development.

Overcoming Challenges:

Al-Rassis spoke about the fine movement passing through two phases starting from the sixties until the middle of the twentieth century, then the subsequent phase called contemporary art, explaining that most Saudi artists studied at the Institute of Art Education, "so there was no college of fine arts to graduate professional artists."

For her part, Al-Jibreen praised the Saudi female artist who proved her ability in this aspect, noting that the artist Safeya Binzagr is an example of overcoming challenges, emphasizing the necessity of...