Leila Heller opened her New York gallery in 1982. It ran for 41 years. She was among the first gallerists anywhere to represent artists from the Middle East, Central Asia, India, Pakistan, and the Arab world systematically and seriously, at a time when most Western institutions had not caught up.
Lara Palmer spoke with her in Dubai, where Heller has operated a second gallery for nearly a decade. How did this journey begin? I was studying economics at Brown University when a friend suggested I take a course on Impressionism.
I fell completely in love with art history. I did not want to spend my life in a bank. I switched to art history and French literature, then did my master’s at Sotheby’s Institute in London and a second master’s in Art History and Museum Management at George Washington University.
Who inspired you most? My mother. She was a strong woman in a time when women were not permitted to do very much.
My grandmother secretly took her to ballet, singing classes, and piano lessons without my grandfather’s knowledge. My mother gave me every opportunity she never had — music, literature, history, art, travel. When I complained about difficulty, she would say: you can do it.
That was her whole philosophy, and it became mine. On representing Middle Eastern artists in the West: When I started, nobody bought the work. The internet changed that.
Then the auction houses began selling Middle Eastern art in London and New York. Museums became interested. The Louvre Abu Dhabi opened, the Guggenheim is coming, the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, the Sharjah Museum — all of this made the art more visible globally.
What I contributed was consistency over decades, when nobody was paying attention. What do you find remarkable about the UAE? As a woman, I feel genuinely empowered here.
In America, the art world is predominantly male — museum directors, gallery owners, record auction results. In the UAE, women are given real positions and real support. Sheikha Salama in Abu Dhabi, Sheikha Manal in Dubai, Sheikha Moza in Qatar — these women have built cultural infrastructure that rivals anything in Europe.
I find that extraordinary. Your life credo? This morning I read: how you love yourself is how you teach others to love you. That felt true.