Saudi Arabia has long been criticized both internationally and locally for sponsoring a conservative Islam. It recently discovered that the field of culture and arts is a pivotal site in which to construct and display a new national identity that counters that prevailing image. For almost two decades, this initiative has taken two major forms. First, a remarkable state-sponsored exhibition called Roads of Arabia has toured the world, thus far on display in over a dozen destinations throughout Europe, North America, and Asia. Secondly, there is large-scale state support of contemporary art exhibited abroad, facilitated by institutions, and programs launched to promote Saudi art and culture. The state’s use of art and culture marks a new stage in its cultural diplomacy, revealing a desire to portray a specific image of Saudi Arabia for international, particularly Western, consumption. Such representational activity is highlighted against a traditional image of the stronghold of a radical version of Islam often held responsible for encouraging modern fundamentalism. In this paper, I consider the role of state-sponsored art in creating a new national identity against an image of a conservative society and authoritarian government. I also pay special attention to the “burden of representation” (Mercer 1990) characterizing the representational efforts that seem directed more towards a foreign audience than towards a local one. I link this discrepancy to the sometimes-involuntary factors encouraging the project of musealization. For instance, the Roads of Arabia exhibition itself was triggered in 2006 by Jacques Chirac, the then president of France. Musealization can be defined as “the process by which an object is removed or detached from its original context or setting for its exhibition in a museum-like manner and environment” (Osterlund 2013). Concerned with the politics involved in constructing a national discourse in an international context, I examine the musealizational efforts made by the Saudi state as it curates a certain image for Western consumption. I analyze the musealization of an image that is multi-faceted. At times, the image celebrates an unknown but rediscovered past. For example, the minister of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage said that “We are almost at the beginning of discovering Arabia” (Salman 2010). At other times, however, the image emphasizes a vibrant landscape of contemporary art the patronage of which is in line with the propagated narrative of the Saudi government as a progressive one supportive of, and tolerant to, artistic expression.