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Director and CEO Mariët Westermann
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July 2026
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Dear Friends,
It is with great joy that I share a special announcement: after more than twenty years in the making, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will open its doors to the public on December 11. Through steadfast, visionary leadership and unprecedented partnership with the Department of Tourism–Abu Dhabi, this moment marks a major milestone for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, our constellation of museums, and the cultural world at large.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi has been created to show and celebrate that the art of today is a phenomenal, connective resource for people both from the region and from around the world. Its global collection and programs offer a transnational perspective on art since 1960, centered in the Gulf, West Asia, North Africa, and South Asia and radiating to all continents, with significant representation of the arts of First Nation and Indigenous peoples.
The newest star in our constellation—joining New York, Venice, and Bilbao—will be a hub of dialogue and exchange for visitors of all generations and backgrounds, and a museum for artists, scholars, and all who wish to advance the knowledge and practice of art, whether visual, performance-based, or shaped by new technology. Guggenheim Abu Dhabi follows in the footsteps of our founders Solomon R. Guggenheim and Hilla von Rebay, who set the Foundation on its path a century ago when they collected the art of their time in order for anyone to experience the inspiration and joy they found in it.
Designed by the late Frank Gehry, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is inspired by the architectural legacy of the region and is also unmistakably one of his buildings-as-sculpture. In 1997, Gehry pioneered his scenography of flowing, imaginative spaces for discovery, dialogue, and gathering at the Guggenheim Bilbao, having taken his cue from the open curves of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Situated at a meeting point between land and sea, this new landmark will offer 30 interior galleries and outdoor exhibition space, continuing our legacy of innovative architecture.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will complete the Saadiyat Cultural District, the most significant precinct of cultural institutions to open in this century, joining the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Zayed National Museum, the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi, a dedicated teamLab museum, and the Abrahamic Family House. For visitors, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is already a reason to book the trip; for the region, it is a defining arrival in a growing global capital for the arts.
At every Guggenheim location, our motto is: think global, act local. Each museum collects and shows modern and contemporary art from around the world, but each does so in its own distinct way. I cannot wait for you all to experience the newest museum in our constellation when it opens later this year!
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Photo: Courtesy of Guggenheim Abu Dhabi
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