Louvre Abu Dhabi is celebrating its fourth anniversary and it has changed and evolved exponentially since its first display. The museum rotates its collection every October, and has been acquiring pieces since its 2017 opening, with 56 new acquisitions currently on display.
Moreover, its loans displayed as part of the exhibitions it has hosted, thanks to the partnership between Agence France-Museums and the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi also means that Louvre Abu Dhabi has been host to a number of high-profile works: heavy hitters such as Rodin's The Thinker or Vincent Van Gogh's Self-Portrait.
If you missed them, here are some of the highlights from the past four years:
The world's oldest pearl
In a nod to the UAE’s pearl-diving history, in 2019 Louvre Abu Dhabi displayed what is believed to be the world’s oldest pearl. It dates back to between 5,800 BC and 5,600 BC, and was found in an archaeological dig on Marawah Island in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. The slightly gold-hued pearl would have been worn as jewellery or traded for goods, experts say. It will eventually be on show at the Zayed National Museum, but was exhibited as part of Louvre Abu Dhabi’s 10,000 Years of Luxury exhibition, from 2019 to 2020.
Leonardo da Vinci's 'La Belle Ferronniere'
One of the indisputable stars of Renaissance portraiture, Leonardo da Vinci’s La Belle Ferronniere appeared at Louvre Abu Dhabi from its opening until September 2019, looking over her shoulder with her sceptical, serious expression. The title is thought to refer to the jewel that adorns the woman’s forehead, and was painted during what's known as Leonardo's first Milanese period, when he worked in the northern Italian city from 1482 to 1499 and produced The Last Supper, among other pieces. The work was on loan to Louvre Abu Dhabi from the Musee du Louvre in Paris.
Rodin's 'The Thinker'
This piece, one of the world’s most famous sculptures, came to Louvre Abu Dhabi in 2019 from the Rodin Museum for the duration of the exhibition Changing Societies, Rendezvous in Paris: Picasso, Chagall, Modigliani & Co (1900-1939). The work was made between 1881 and 1882 and represents a man captured in the midst of contemplation, head on his clenched fist. It's a radical transformation from the bronze statue portraying military and political figures to an artwork that summarises an elemental human emotion. It was originally called The Poet and made for Rodin’s The Gates of Hell, a sculpture depicting a scene from Dante’s Inferno. Perched at the very top, it is believed to depict Dante himself.
Pablo Picasso's 'Young Girl with a Hoop'
The painting came to Abu Dhabi in 2019 and was also exhibited for the duration of the Changing Societies, Rendezvous in Paris: Picasso, Chagall, Modigliani & Co (1900-1939) exhibition. A masterpiece of Cubism, Young Girl with a Hoop (1919) shows a girl broken up into different geometric forms – holding a plaything of a hoop that nearly taunts the figure’s blocky fragmentation, contrasting the toy’s placid circularity with the many colours and shapes that comprise her body. The work is usually on show at the Centre Pompidou.
Vincent Van Gogh's 'Self-Portrait'
Vincent Van Gogh painted more than 35 self-portraits, most of which him with his head turned slightly to one side, eyes cooly facing the viewer. He kept the background simple, typical for paintings of the time, and the sketchy brushwork of his beard and clothing echoes the mottled, colours of heather behind him. An undated work from this famous series came to Abu Dhabi in autumn 2019, again for the Changing Societies, Rendezvous in Paris exhibition, complementing the Van Gogh work in the museum's permanent collection, the vivacious The Ballroom at Arles (1888).
Odilon Redon's decorations for the Baron and Baroness de Domecy
In the late 1890s, the Baron and Baroness of Domecy commissioned artist Odilon Redon to create works for their dining room that hovered between bespoke decor and artistic Modernism. Redon worked in the Chateau de Domecy-sur-le-Vault in Burgundy, France, from 1900 to 1901, eventually producing 17 panels that responded to the colours and seasons of the natural world. It was displayed at Louvre Abu Dhabi in 2018 for the duration of its Japanese Connections: Birth of Modern Decor exhibition. And as that show elaborated, it was influenced by the Japanese principles of flat perspective, centrality of nature and intense colouration.
'Portrait of a Woman' from Antinoe, Egypt
The naturalism of this portrait of a woman from Antinoe makes it the ideal example of Louvre Abu Dhabi's main principle: to highlight the universality of work across ages and civilisations. Pass by her quickly and you might think she was painted in Renaissance Italy. Her rosy cheeks, combed-back strands of hair, the shadow over her top lip – all point to the extraordinary realism associated with that period.
But she was painted between the year 100 and 120 in Upper Egypt, and according to principles more culturally Egyptian, the likeness is a funerary portrait, adorning the outside of the young woman's coffin. The work's home is now the Louvre in Paris, but she travelled back to the Middle East in 2019-2020 for the 10,000 Years of Luxury show, owing to her sumptuous gold garments and still-fashionable pearl and jewel earrings.
Letter from Mongol sultan to the king of France
The museum's current exhibition, Dragon and Phoenix: Centuries of Exchange between Chinese and Islamic Worlds, brings a rare and stunning document from Paris's Bibliotheque Nationale to Abu Dhabi: a letter from the sultan Uljaytu of the Mongol dynasty to the king of France offering him an alliance in June 1305. Never mind that the two were not at war: it was the time of the Pax Mongolica and the Ilkhanid dynasty was used to territories grasping for treaties. The writer addressed King Philip IV the Fair, as "Sultan". He didn't reply. It is now an extraordinary example of old Mongolian script, which resembled Arabic, as well as relations between East and West at the time.
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SNAPSHOT
While Huawei did launch the first smartphone with a 50MP image sensor in its P40 series in 2020, Oppo in 2014 introduced the Find 7, which was capable of taking 50MP images: this was done using a combination of a 13MP sensor and software that resulted in shots seemingly taken from a 50MP camera.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Read more from Kareem Shaheen
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
Haemoglobin disorders explained
Thalassaemia is part of a family of genetic conditions affecting the blood known as haemoglobin disorders.
Haemoglobin is a substance in the red blood cells that carries oxygen and a lack of it triggers anemia, leaving patients very weak, short of breath and pale.
The most severe type of the condition is typically inherited when both parents are carriers. Those patients often require regular blood transfusions - about 450 of the UAE's 2,000 thalassaemia patients - though frequent transfusions can lead to too much iron in the body and heart and liver problems.
The condition mainly affects people of Mediterranean, South Asian, South-East Asian and Middle Eastern origin. Saudi Arabia recorded 45,892 cases of carriers between 2004 and 2014.
A World Health Organisation study estimated that globally there are at least 950,000 'new carrier couples' every year and annually there are 1.33 million at-risk pregnancies.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Dubai Rugby Sevens
November 30, December 1-2
International Vets
Christina Noble Children’s Foundation fixtures
Thursday, November 30:
10.20am, Pitch 3, v 100 World Legends Project
1.20pm, Pitch 4, v Malta Marauders
Friday, December 1:
9am, Pitch 4, v SBA Pirates
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The schedule
December 5 - 23: Shooting competition, Al Dhafra Shooting Club
December 9 - 24: Handicrafts competition, from 4pm until 10pm, Heritage Souq
December 11 - 20: Dates competition, from 4pm
December 12 - 20: Sour milk competition
December 13: Falcon beauty competition
December 14 and 20: Saluki races
December 15: Arabian horse races, from 4pm
December 16 - 19: Falconry competition
December 18: Camel milk competition, from 7.30 - 9.30 am
December 20 and 21: Sheep beauty competition, from 10am
December 22: The best herd of 30 camels
UNSC Elections 2022-23
Seats open:
- Two for Africa Group
- One for Asia-Pacific Group (traditionally Arab state or Tunisia)
- One for Latin America and Caribbean Group
- One for Eastern Europe Group
Countries so far running:
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
match info
Chelsea 2
Willian (13'), Ross Barkley (64')
Liverpool 0
RESULT
Bayern Munich 0 AC Milan 4
Milan: Kessie (14'), Cutrone (25', 43'), Calhanoglu (85')
Five hymns the crowds can join in
Papal Mass will begin at 10.30am at the Zayed Sports City Stadium on Tuesday
Some 17 hymns will be sung by a 120-strong UAE choir
Five hymns will be rehearsed with crowds on Tuesday morning before the Pope arrives at stadium
‘Christ be our Light’ as the entrance song
‘All that I am’ for the offertory or during the symbolic offering of gifts at the altar
‘Make me a Channel of your Peace’ and ‘Soul of my Saviour’ for the communion
‘Tell out my Soul’ as the final hymn after the blessings from the Pope
The choir will also sing the hymn ‘Legions of Heaven’ in Arabic as ‘Assakiroo Sama’
There are 15 Arabic speakers from Syria, Lebanon and Jordan in the choir that comprises residents from the Philippines, India, France, Italy, America, Netherlands, Armenia and Indonesia
The choir will be accompanied by a brass ensemble and an organ
They will practice for the first time at the stadium on the eve of the public mass on Monday evening
Teachers' pay - what you need to know
Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:
- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools
- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say
- it is becoming more common for schools to provide accommodation, sometimes in an apartment block with other teachers, rather than hand teachers a cash housing allowance
- some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs
- maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills
- at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month
- in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues
