Abu Dhabi will open its own Guggenheim museum on December 11, 2026. This museum was designed by the late architect Frank Gehry. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation first announced plans for this museum two decades ago.
A Global Art Collection
Like other Guggenheim museums in New York, Bilbao, and Venice, the Abu Dhabi location will focus on modern and contemporary art. Curators have been building its collection since 2009. It will feature works by famous artists like Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism, noted the collection will also highlight contemporary artists from Southeast Asia, Asia, North Africa, Central Africa, and the Arab world. He said the collection is "truly global."
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Start Your News DetoxGehry's Distinctive Design
The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is nearing completion in the city's cultural district. Frank Gehry's design features a "dynamic, layered exterior composed of nine metallic cones." This will be Gehry's second Guggenheim museum. His design for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in the 1990s made him a top architect.
Gehry, who passed away last year, once said he felt more comfortable with painters and sculptors than engineers. He sought to express the movement and change of his time through his buildings.
The new museum will not be Gehry's only project in Abu Dhabi. He also designed the metallic, rippling Dar al Funoon Abu Dhabi, a new performing arts center that recently began construction. Both buildings fit his style of designs that seem to defy gravity and structural logic.
The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi cost over $1 billion to build. It will have about 30 indoor galleries and outdoor exhibition spaces. The roof will feature ten sculptural cones—nine of stainless steel and one of onyx and glass. These cones will provide ventilation and shade in the desert climate.
In 2021, the museum already had 600 artworks in its collection, owned by Abu Dhabi’s government. Mariët Westermann, Guggenheim Foundation director and CEO, said the collection is "uniquely local and global." She added that the museum aims to show a new art history and invite visitors from around the world.
