Guggenheim Abu Dhabi director Stephanie Rosenthal has indicated the long-awaited museum will open towards the end of 2026.
Rosenthal made the remarks during a public conversation at Al Safa Art & Design Library in Dubai on Tuesday evening, as part of Dubai Collection Nights.
“All of you have probably seen the building, which is a masterpiece by Frank Gehry. You'll see when you walk in very soon … end of the year,” Rosenthal said to the audience.
The statement narrows the expected timeline for the Saadiyat Island institution, which has been in development for more than a decade as part of Abu Dhabi’s wider cultural strategy.
Rosenthal also offered new details on how the museum will be structured and what visitors can expect. She said the collection will not be presented chronologically. Instead, curators have opted for what she described as a “somatic” approach, shaped by themes and bodily movement through the space rather than a linear timeline.
“The building itself is not linear,” she said. “We decided at the end that it will be a somatic – not chronological – way.”
Rosenthal noted that the collection has been built over 20 years with this global outlook in mind. “Our collection is really one that's been built like this from the beginning,” she said, arguing that its transnational perspective is foundational rather than retrofitted.
The director described working with curators trained and based across West Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Latin America, Europe and the US, saying discussions around how to frame concepts such as modernity are often complex and, at times, contentious.
“To sit together and try to figure out what we want was sometimes was not a harmonic experience,” she said. “But it’s really important to have these perspectives on the table.”
Rosenthal said the diversity of voices shaping the museum will be visible in the galleries, which reflects the cosmopolitan city of Abu Dhabi, where audiences come from multiple cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is a collaboration between the Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation and Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism. Rosenthal described it as an “equal relationship”, noting that the collection and building are owned by Abu Dhabi while drawing on the foundation’s international network.
Architecture will play a central role in shaping the experience. Rosenthal described Gehry’s design as dynamic but intuitive, saying concerns that visitors should not feel overwhelmed have informed planning.
“It caresses you in the way it’s built,” she said, adding that artists have been commissioned to respond directly to the building’s distinctive volumes. “We always say we’re dancing with the building.”
Commissioning and site-specific work, she suggested, will sit alongside historically significant works, maintaining a balance between scholarly collection-building and contemporary experimentation.
Rosenthal also outlined plans for a strong emphasis on mediation and storytelling, including the use of guides who can connect the artworks to personal narratives rather than relying solely on conventional wall texts.
“There’s not one linear history of art,” she said. “There are many different connecting points.”
Asked what she hopes visitors will take away, Rosenthal said she does not want audiences to feel indulged but challenged – describing the ideal museum visit as a moment when “a new door” opens in the mind.
“I don’t believe that indulging makes people happy,” she said. “You walk out fulfilled when you feel you’ve been challenged.”
Once open, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will become the largest museum in the Guggenheim network and a central pillar of Saadiyat Cultural District, which now includes Louvre Abu Dhabi, Zayed National Museum and the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi.
