How Abu Dhabi became the new home for Leonardo's Salvator Mundi

The four-day Abu Dhabi Art fair, held every November, is one of the key focal points of the United Arab Emirates capital’s cultural calendar. The buzz at 2017’s event was even greater than usual, and not just for the fact that the fair was celebrating its 10th birthday. Louvre Abu Dhabi – a long-awaited mega-museum and the first of several such venues planned for Saadiyat Island, the area earmarked as Abu Dhabi’s new cultural district – opened in the same week. The product of a cross-cultural partnership between France and the UAE, Louvre Abu Dhabi was inaugurated with a lavish firework display, that could be seen from outside Manarat Al Saadiyat, the venue for Abu Dhabi Art. As the rockets fizzed and crackled, the sense that a cultural milestone had been reached was tangible.

“When Abu Dhabi Art started, it had 5,000 visitors,” says Dyala Nusseibeh, director of the event. “Last year we had over 20,000 visitors, so it’s a significant increase, and I think with the Louvre opening we’ll continue to see an upward trend.”

For local artists, this new cultural dawn is a tantalising prospect, but some are keen to stress that, for Abu Dhabi, this has been no overnight transformation. Saudi Arabian activist-artist Manal Al Dowayan was one of the most talked-about artists of 2017’s Abu Dhabi Art, thanks in part to the powerful subject matter that dominates her work: the rights of women in her home country. She credits Abu Dhabi’s thriving art scene for launching her career. “I truly believe the UAE is the capital of the art world for the region,” she said at the fair. “Where I grew up in Saudi Arabia there wasn’t a single gallery, and I was being pushed towards moving to the west. But by the time I had some interest and signed with a gallery, the UAE had two art fairs, a biennale and almost 70 galleries. There was an art scene and an art industry.”

Shortly after opening, Louvre Abu Dhabi was in the news again, as word emerged in December that it would be the new home for Salvator Mundi, the “last da Vinci”, which smashed all records when it fetched a mighty $450m (£318m) at auction in New York last November. When the painting eventually goes on show at Louvre Abu Dhabi, it’ll doubtless be a sensation, drawing crowds from across the Gulf and beyond. Commentators will inevitably take issue with the sums involved and the suggestion that the more expensive an artwork, the greater its cultural worth. But the fact is that Louvre Abu Dhabi is just one of many cultural wonders in the UAE capital – it just happens to have temporarily overshadowed the rest.

For proof, start your tour of the city at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, a staggeringly beautiful monument to the country’s late founder. As well as the gleaming white, gold-trimmed mosque itself, there’s also a temporary exhibition space, currently hosting the exhibition “Hajj: Memories of a Journey”, which brings together a rich and diverse selection of Islamic art and artefacts relating to pilgrimage; everything from ancient carvings to pop-up books sold as souvenirs by roadside vendors en route to Mecca.

Smaller galleries, meanwhile, offer a glimpse of the city’s grassroots arts scene. Salwa Zeidan Gallery, within the St Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, represents local Emirati talent and has supported the careers of internationally acclaimed artists such as the late, great conceptualist Hassan Sharif. Etihad Modern Art Gallery in the west of the city, meanwhile, counts Abdul Q’ader Al Rais among its stable – a Dubai-born painter whose abstract canvases use Arabic calligraphy and geometric forms to establish a distinct sense of place.

And let’s not forget that Abu Dhabi Art is just one of many events in the city’s busy cultural calendar. Perhaps the most diverse of them all is Abu Dhabi Festival, which returns in March for a 14th year, bringing an eclectic mix of theatre, dance, classical music and literary events to venues across the city throughout the month.

So, while it may have hogged the spotlight for a while, it only takes a little exploration to realise that Louvre Abu Dhabi is just the tip of a fascinating cultural iceberg. Back at Abu Dhabi Art, Nusseibeh seems optimistic that the best is yet to come for the city. “There really is the will and the intent to create a cultural hub here, and invest in it meaningfully,” she says. “Partly as heritage for future generations, but also to ensure regionally we’re creating something positive for the good of everyone.”

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