French Museums Will Loan 300 Works to Louvre Abu Dhabi, Including Paintings by Leonardo, Titian, and Picasso

The list of artworks that will be loaned by French museums to the Louvre Abu Dhabi has been released. Some 300 artworks are scheduled to travel from France to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the opening of the Louvre outpost, among them paintings by Dürer, David, Leonardo, Titian, Manet, Monet, van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, Kandinsky, Mark Rothko, Joan Mitchell, and Andy Warhol. The loans come from 13 French cultural institutions, including the Musée d’Orsay, Centre Pompidou, Château de Versailles, and Musée Rodin.

The Louvre Abu Dhabi’s announcement of the arrangement presents mixed messages. The press release quotes Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority, as saying, “Ultimately, we hope to offer visitors a unique experience from a new perspective that underlines the universal spirit of the entire project.” Yet a separate release, spotlighting “some of the most remarkable items” in the loan, reflects a highly Western point of view — a mere nine out of 26 objects come from non-Western countries. The complete list of loan works (a third release) offers a more encouraging picture: alongside a whole lot of Western painting there are objects from Central and South America, Asia, and the Middle East. Still, it’s significant that most of these pieces are three-dimensional objects, and ones that seem to adhere to a very specific narrative that posits the West as the site of art for art’s sake and the rest of the world as home to a more ritualistic and useful kind of art. Then again, the loaned objects are coming from Western cultural institutions, so maybe it’s not that surprising. Joan Mitchell also seems to be the only listed female artist.

Although a Guardian article confusingly describes the loaned works as both “part of a 30-year collaboration” and “join[ing] the permanent collection of Louvre Abu Dhabi,” the actual press release states:

The number of works loaned by French institutions will decrease over a 10-year period as Louvre Abu Dhabi continues to build up its collection. The works will be on show from three months to two years, depending largely on the narrative, the conservation and the preservation requirements of each piece.

The Guardian pegs the value of the loan collaboration at £800m (~$1.29 billion).

The Louvre Abu Dhabi is being built on the painfully named Saadiyat — “happiness” — Island, alongside outposts of the Guggenheim and New York University. The latter two have faced the heaviest criticism recently for the exploitative conditions under which workers are laboring to build the structures, but the Louvre is far from controversy-free.

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