Louvre Abu Dhabi introduces art from Rembrandt, Vermeer

The Louvre Abu Dhabi, the first museum to carry the famed name outside of France, announced on Sunday it would roll out works by Dutch masters Rembrandt and Vermeer this month.

Works by the two artists are part of the gallery’s first exhibition this year, entitled Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age: Masterpieces from The Leiden collection and the Musee du Louvre.

The exhibit, on display in the United Arab Emirates’ capital from February 14 to May 18, is dedicated to the famed “fijnschilders” – fine painters – of the Netherlands.

“Rembrandt is a master of the Golden Age,” museum head Manuel Rabate told AFP.

“He’s a universal genius, he’s connected to the world.”

The exhibition includes 95 works, including Vermeer’s Young Woman Seated at a Virginal alongside Rembrandt’s Portrait of a Man and Study of the Head and Clasped Hands of a Young Man as Christ in Prayer.

The Louvre Abu Dhabi was inaugurated with great pomp in November 2017 – nearly five years behind schedule – by French President Emmanuel Macron and Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.

It was marketed as “a universal museum” celebrating cultural exchange and tolerance.

The museum has reportedly cost the UAE around $1 billion, including upwards of $500 million to use France’s “Louvre” brand.

Officials have never confirmed the price tag.