Yves Klein, Anthropometry (ANT 110), 1960
Pigments on paper mounted on canvas
H. 201.3 cm; W. 147.3 cm
LAD 2011-006
©Louvre Abu Dhabi, photographie APF / ADAGP, Paris 2013
MBC1 TV – Louvre Abu Dhabi – Birth of a Museum
Birth of a Museum – Paris presents Louvre Abu Dhabi The ‘Birth of a Museum’ exhibition is the first major presentation in Paris of the collection of the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Louvre, Hall Napoléon, from 2 May to 28 July 2014.]]>
Source: Louvre Museum
Louvre Abu Dhabi is unveiling the best of its new collection for the first time in France; more than one hundred and sixty of the finest masterpieces already acquired by the UAE museum are presented in May in Paris, during a major exhibition entitled “Birth of a Museum”.
Louvre Abu Dhabi, which will be opening in December 2015, will be the first universal museum created in the Middle East, a region at the crossroads of civilizations. Its collection of old and contemporary works from different countries has been gradually growing since 2009 with each new acquisition.
“Birth of a Museum” unveils a selection of more than one hundred and sixty works acquired since 2009 by the Emirate, which has benefited from the expertise of the teams from Abu Dhabi and Agence France-Museums. Among these exceptional works there is a statue called Bactrian “Princess”, a gold bracelet with figures of lions made in Iran nearly 3,000 years ago, a rare Greek archaic sphinx, a large Bodhisattva from Pakistan, a fibula (brooch) in gold with garnets from Italy dating from the fifth century AD, a magnificent “Virgin with Child” by Bellini, paintings by Jordaens, Caillebotte, Manet, Gauguin, Magritte, a previously unseen papier-collé by Picasso and nine paintings by the recently deceased American painter Cy Twombly. The aim of the exhibition is built around a chronological thread and some major artistic and aesthetic issues that already emphasize the principles at the heart of the identity of the Louvre Abu Dhabi: universalism, the confrontation of artistic testimonies of the great civilizations, from ancient times to the contemporary scene, highlighting the multidisciplinary nature of the fields of artistic creation.
Louvre Abu Dhabi aims to be a place of dialogue between civilizations and cultures. Its uniqueness will be based on an overarching vision of artistic creation and it will adopt an original way to present collections, combining loans from French collections and works from the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s own currently developing collection, on a rotating basis over ten years.
The construction of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, designed by Jean Nouvel, winner of the Pritzker Prize, has begun on Saadiyat Island. Designed as a “museum city”, protected from the sun by a large dome, the buildings extend out over the water. The Louvre Abu Dhabi will cover nearly 64,000 m2, with 9,200 m2 reserved for art galleries, 6,000 m2 for the permanent gallery and 2,000 m2 for temporary exhibitions of international importance.
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