Patrick Stewart, Irrfan Khan, Wahid Hamed kick off Dubai film fest
Salvator Mundi, a painting of Christ by Leonardo da Vinci that recently sold for a record $450 million, is heading to the Louvre Abu Dhabi in a coup for the bold new museum, it announced on Wednesday.
The move became possible after a little-known Saudi prince reportedly bought the painting last month.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi, the first museum to bear the Louvre name outside France, has been billed as “the first universal museum in the Arab world,” in a sign of the oil-rich emirate’s global ambitions.
“Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi is coming to #LouvreAbuDhabi,” the museum said on Twitter in Arabic, English and French.
The post displayed an image of the 500-year-old work but did not identify its owner.
Auction house Christie’s has also steadfastly declined to identify the buyer, whose purchase in New York for $450.3 million stunned the art world.
“Congratulations,” Christie’s said in a tweeted reply to the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
The New York Times on Wednesday, citing documents it reviewed, identified the buyer as Saudi Arabia’s Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud, whose country forbids the official worship of Christ or any other religion except Islam.
Prince Bader has no history as a major art collector but is a friend and associate of Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Times said.
Prince Mohammed, in turn, has been called an admirer of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.
The French weekly le Journal du Dimanche earlier reported that two investment firms were behind the painting’s purchase as part of a financial arrangement involving several museums.
The newspaper said that the work will be lent or resold to museums, largely in the Middle East and Asia.
Prince Bader is listed as a director of Houston-based Energy Holdings Dubai’s international film festival opened on Wednesday night, bringing together Britain’s Patrick Stewart, India’s Irrfan Khan and Egypt’s Wahid Hamed – cinema stars from different corners of the globe.
In a region rife with conflict which pushed the famed Marrakesh festival to take a oneyear hiatus, dozens of stars, cinema lovers and social media influencers gathered for the 14th Dubai International Film Festival.
The event runs through December 13 and features 140 movies from 51 countries and regions with a heavy focus on the Middle East and North Africa.
Walking the red carpet opening night were cinema royalty from around the world, including Cate Blanchett, Egyptian film and TV star Yusra and India’s Khan, of Slumdog Millionaire and Life of Pi fame.
The largest cheer was reserved for Stewart, who said he was looking forward to the screenings of regional films in particular.
“I’m not very familiar with Arabic film,” Stewart told journalists on the red carpet. “After this week, I will certainly know very, very much more.”
The festival opened with the Middle East premier of the Scott Cooper Western Hostiles, the story of a 19th century soldier forced to escort a dying Cheyenne chief and his family home starring Christian Bale and Rosamund Pike.
But the star attraction over the coming week is Syria’s Last Men in Aleppo, a documentary on the daily lives of the White Helmets – the volunteer rescue workers who have refused to leave their homeland despite a devastating war.