ABU DHABI: The Louvre Abu Dhabi opened its doors to the public on Saturday, after a decade-long wait, drawing a crowd as diverse as the cosmopolitan UAE itself.
Long lines of people on Saturday thronged the new museum, which encompasses work from both the East and West.
Hundreds of Emiratis along with Asian, European and Arab expatriates, some dressed in shorts, others in flowing Arabic robes, roamed through the vast museum to see famous works from the Paris institution, and pieces from Middle Eastern civilizations alike.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi, the first museum to bear the Louvre name outside France, presents around 600 pieces in a modern, light-filled structure in harmony with its desert-island setting.
More than a decade in the making, a VIP inauguration was held on Wednesday, with French President Emmanuel Macron among the first visitors.
Flagged as “the first universal museum in the Arab world,” it sits on the low-lying Saadiyat Island, a developing tourism and culture hub 500 meters off the coast of the UAE capital.
Abu Dhabi’s conservative mores can be felt in the pieces on show. The museum’s artwork offers a brief history of the world and its major religions, and it does not shy away from Judaism.
The modernist museum, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, sits under a honeycombed dome of eight layers of Arab-style geometric shapes.
It draws the lapping waters of the Arabian Gulf into its outer corridors, allowing individual beams of light that pass through the roof to strike the surface.
Under a 30-year agreement, France provides expertise, lends works of art and organizes temporary exhibitions — in return for $1.16 billion.
The Louvre in France takes a 400-million-euro share of that sum for the use of its name up to 2037.
For the next 10 years, the Paris museum will lend works to its Abu Dhabi partner on a voluntary basis, for a maximum of two years.
For its permanent collection, the museum has acquired hundreds of pieces, dating from the earliest Mesopotamian civilizations to the present day.
The vast project prides itself as “the first museum of its kind in the Arab world: A universal museum that focuses on shared human stories across civilizations and cultures.”
A decade in the making, Louvre Abu Dhabi draws crowd as diverse as UAE
A decade in the making, Louvre Abu Dhabi draws crowd as diverse as UAE
REVIEW: ‘Is This Thing On?’ — stars elevate Bradley Cooper’s low-key rom-com
DUBAI: Bradley Cooper’s latest directorial effort is based — loosely — on the life of popular UK comedian John Bishop, so you might expect stand-up to be its focus. It isn’t. This is a bittersweet low-key depiction of a love that has eroded between a couple who’ve been together for decades.
Alex (Will Arnett, of “Arrested Development” and “BoJack Horseman” fame) — a regular guy with a regular job — and Tess (Oscar winner Laura Dern) — a former Olympic volleyball player, now a housewife and mom — are separated, heading for a mutually agreed divorce, and keeping it amicable partly for the sake of their two kids, partly because they still get on well — just not well enough to stay together.
Newly single Alex decides to get a late-night drink at New York’s famed Comedy Cellar. To avoid paying the $15 dollar entry fee, he signs up for a slot at the open-mic night (a part inspired by Bishop’s own origin story). With no material planned, he’s not great, but his self-deprecating, anecdotes about his impending divorce get a few laughs. Most importantly, the experience sparks a new passion in Alex and he continues to perform, befriending other comics who offer him companionship and advice and a new perspective that leads him to re-evaluate his own contributions to his marriage. His newfound spark also makes Tess see him in a new light, one that might just convince her to give him another shot.
What elevates this sometimes-saccharine, not-entirely-believable (exhibit A: the scene where Tess discovers that Alex is using their relationship as comedy material) film above similar fare is the engrossing chemistry on show between Arnett and Dern as people struggling to (re)discover themselves in middle age. Arnett is typically charming and witty as Alex, but brings out unexpected depths of emotion in what may be his best performance to date. Dern imbues Tess Tess with the toughness and independence you’d expect from a successful former pro athlete, but gives equal weight to her vulnerabilities as someone who’s invested so much of her identity into something she can no longer do to the same high standards. Their relationship is so sweetly genuine you’ll find yourself rooting for them both.
