Art in Riyadh has stepped out of galleries and museums and into the everyday city, where passers-by meet it in train stations, public squares and workplaces.

At Qasr Al-Hokm metro station, travelers encounter Saudi artist Zaman Jassim’s “When the Moon is Full.” In the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD), a sculpture by Alexander Calder stands among modern towers, with Robert Indiana’s “LOVE” close by, and a footbridge on King Abdulaziz Road becomes a light installation by Italian artist Angelo Bonello after dark.

The works span generations, schools and practices and use materials from light, steel and sound to words and everyday objects, yet together they form one artistic space spread across the capital.

This is the aim of the Riyadh Art program, launched in March 2019 to turn the city into an open-air gallery by commissioning and placing works by Saudi and international artists in neighborhoods, gardens, parks, squares, transport stations, bridges, city entrances and other public places. Its permanent collection now numbers 75 works, each tied to the place that hosts it.

Public art in Riyadh draws its value not only from the quality of the works or the fame of the artists, but from their relationship with their surroundings and the way people engage with them in daily life, adding new visual and cultural layers to the city.

The collection complements other Riyadh Art programs such as “Noor Riyadh” and the “Tuwaiq Sculpture” symposium, where artists from around the world turn Saudi stone into permanent public works, and reflects the city’s wider transformation under Saudi Vision 2030 toward a better quality of life, thriving creative sectors and a global role in arts and culture.