( CNN ) -- For three decades or so , Syrian artist Safwan Dahoul has been painting pensive , haunting images -- all of which are titled `` Dream '' . The somber paintings typically depict a downcast , lone woman , painted in shades of gray or muted colors . A celebrated painter , Dahoul had seen his works acquired by the Syrian Ministry of Culture and the national museum in Damascus . But he now lives in Dubai , joining over two million fellow citizens who fled overseas to escape the brutal civil war . When Dahoul moved to the UAE in 2012 , he left behind most of his belongings , including many of his `` Dream '' paintings , at his Damascus home . `` I left with only one small bag , thinking I 'd return to Syria after a short time , '' says the 53-year-old artist . Art collector Hisham Samawi and his cousin Khaled Samawi , who run Ayyam Gallery in Dubai , helped Dahoul -- and later his paintings -- leave Syria . The cousins first opened the gallery in Damascus in 2006 , but the conflict had forced them to move the headquarters to Dubai around three years ago . Between 2011 and 2013 , the Samawis and their team helped more than a dozen Syrian artists relocate overseas , providing them with visas and airfare , and moved about 3,000 artworks to Dubai . `` The moment when trouble started happening in Syria , we decided that we needed to plan because if this thing turned ugly , we 're not going to have time to do this later , '' says Hisham Samawi . They also helped 33-year-old artist Tammam Azzam escape to Dubai in September 2011 . His work `` Freedom Graffiti '' -- a digitally manipulated image of Gustav Klimt 's painting `` The Kiss '' superimposed on a photograph of a bomb-ravaged wall in Syria -- went viral last year after the Saatchi Gallery in London shared it on Facebook . Moving artists and their artworks to safe havens such as Beirut , Dubai and Cairo is a costly operation , but Samawi says it is worth it . `` We feel like we 're a family in Ayyam , '' he says . `` So it was never an option that we 're going to cut our ties and move on . '' But it 's not just about rescuing Syrian artistic and cultural treasures , it 's also about money . Middle Eastern art is big business , and Dubai is a hub , hosting the region 's largest modern art fair . On the first day of Art Dubai last month , Ayyam Gallery sold a `` Dream '' painting by Dahoul for $ 150,000 . `` More and more , we 're seeing people engage with artists who are producing work in conflict areas , '' says Bashar Al Shroogi , art collector and director of Dubai-based Cuadro Fine Art Gallery . `` It 's because they have a message , it 's because they 're reflecting back what 's happening in the regions . Essentially , they 're holding a mirror back to society and saying , 'This is what 's going on around me . Do you see what I see ? '' Dahoul and Azzam are now living in the safe haven of Dubai , but they are still troubled by the bloodshed and destruction in Syria . Dahoul 's more-recent `` Dream '' paintings hint at the atrocities back home : a woman staring at rows of bodies , a body squeezed into a small box . Azzam , whose artworks focus on the devastation back home , says : `` I am a completely different person now in my life and my art -- everything has changed . '' Yenni Kwok contributed to this report .
Arab Spring , based in Syria , helped 3,000 Middle Eastern artists flee the civil war . It also moved over 3,000 artworks out of Dubai . Turmoil and lack of accessibility have driven demand for artworks from Arab Spring countries , including Syria .