Born in Lebanon, Sara Abou-Kahlil has – with her siblings Nassib and Hala – built up a remarkable collection of paintings, sculptures, decorative art and conceptual works, which has made their home in Palm Jumeirah something of a private contemporary art museum. The hallway is lined with ten artificial orange trees hung with strips of audiotape and emitting a strange soundscape – a major work by Lawrence Abu Hamdan. While the collection began with – and remains particularly strong in – art from the Middle East, it has become global in scope and ranges from artists such as Etel Adnan, Ai Weiwei and Chiharu Shiota to less familiar names, including the young Syrian textile artist Azza Abo Rebieh. Sara, a private equity professional, is a patron of the Dubai Collection, the city’s first institutional collection of modern and contemporary art, as well as institutions including the Serpentine and the Guggenheim; she has served on the acquisitions committee of Tate Modern and the Centre Pompidou.