The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi issues invitations for its inauguration in the midst of conflict over the Persian Gulf

As the war in the Middle East flares up again, the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism has confirmed that the Guggenheim, built by the late Frank Gehry, will welcome its first visitors on December 11. For now, this news seems more of an announcement than a tangible reality, given all the uncertainties weighing on the region. It does not really come at the right time, the lull between the United States, Israel and Iran having been short-lived. Hostilities have resumed harshly, with joint attacks carried out by Washington and Saudi Arabia against pro-Iranian militias in Iraq and oil tanker strikes by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz.

Question of cultural soft power

But for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, continuing its expansion in the Gulf, through the soft power of Culture, remains vital in this race with competing countries, notably Qatar and Saudi Arabia, both very invested in art and museums. It also remains a major tourist issue for this city between sea and desert which dreams of being number 1, hoping to attract nearly 30 million visitors by 2030. While its neighbor Dubai is launching its first train lines, via Etihad Rail, to reach Abu Dhabi in 57 minutes. Nothing to reassure travelers. These two destinations are at a standstill, with empty hotels and planes no longer landing, some companies having suspended their flights.

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Not a sign of concern, however, in the July 28 press release which highlights “ this new museum as a major step in the Emirate’s cultural strategy, highlighting the role of culture as a vector of dialogue between peoples”. The Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism wants to put an end at all costs to the twenty-year saga of the construction of the Guggenheim, marked by numerous delays, changes of plans and budget overruns, in a context of economic crises and a pandemic which had slowed down the project.

Phase finale

Against all odds, the museum is now in its final phase and will complete the landscape of Saadiyat Island, with Jean Nouvel’s Louvre Abu Dhabi and its latest additions, Norman Foster’s Zayed National Museum which opened in December 2025, just after that of Natural History, next to the TeamLab Phenomena. An exceptional concentration of institutions on a targeted area, which must outstrip, by 2030, that of Al Maha Island in Lusail, Qatar. The “masterplan” is designed by the Basel duo of architects Herzog and de Meuron, as is its museum of traditional arts of the country. They revealed the details during the last Art Basel fair, in Basel, in June, in the presence of Princess Sheikha al Mayassa, president of Qatar Museum.

Architectural monster

Like its neighbor the Zhayed Museum, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is an architectural monster, even more impressive than that of Bilbao or even the Vuitton Foundation in the Bois de Boulogne. The death of the Pritzker Prize-winning architect, who died last December at the age of 96, makes this museum its greatest achievement and puts it even more in the spotlight. Surrounded on three sides by water, it constitutes an 80,000 m² complex, including 30 galleries, 11,600 m² of indoor exhibition spaces and 23,000 m² of outdoor spaces. Ten monumental cones, culminating at nearly 88 meters, provide both the visual identity of the building and natural ventilation adapted to the Gulf climate.

The content presented to visitors still remains unclear. We know that the Emirate has purchased many major works of the 20th^e and 21^e century on the market but he does not want to reveal the names, to create an effect of surprise. For the moment, Mariët Westermann, director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, is content to insist “ on the local and global character of the future collection”, intended to tell “many stories” through works from all continents.

« Dedicated to modern and contemporary art from the 1960s to today, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi boasts an approach that goes beyond traditional Western narratives of art historyexplains the latter. Its collection, established since 2009, favors dialogues between artists, regions of the world and generations rather than a strictly chronological journey. Visitors will be invited to explore major themes such as abstraction, popular culture, landscape, language and even stories. The museum will develop a program of exhibitions, artistic commissions and research centered on cultural exchange, with an emphasis on artists from the Middle East, Africa, Asia and other regions often less represented in major international museums. Emirate”.

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We should know more quickly, as the inauguration date approaches. And it’s a safe bet that the Emirate of Abu Dhabi will pull out all the stops when it comes to its communication. If the situation in the Middle East gives them the opportunity.