First Look: Louvre Abu Dhabi
By Ysabelle Cheung
View of Saadiyat Island and Louvre Abu Dhabi, designed by Pritzker-Prize winning architect Jean Nouvel. All photos by Ysabelle Cheung for ArtAsiaPacific.
It has been a decade in the making, and none have anticipated the opening of Louvre Abu Dhabi more than those who live and work in the United Arab Emirates. From the feverish multitudes of billboards and flyers decorating the city’s airport, avenues and buildings, to a reliable build-up of arts programming throughout the city over the past ten years, it seems that an odd mixture of rewarded patience and hysteric elation has seized the UAE’s capital. This air of conviviality ensures that all roads this month lead to Saadiyat Island, where the first institution to be built looks, from afar, like a silver button amid a triumvirate of unbroken sea, sky and sand.
