Abu Dhabi’s museums and cultural institutions are marking April with a wide-ranging calendar of events that spans heritage, contemporary art, music and community engagement. From international exhibitions to locally rooted initiatives, the month offers visitors a chance to engage with the emirate’s cultural history and its evolving creative scene.
Al Ain Museum presents Harat Al Hosn, an exhibition that revisits the once-thriving neighbourhood that surrounded the site. Through oral histories, archival photographs and immersive displays, it captures a way of life shaped by falaj systems, shared spaces and community traditions. Visitors are also encouraged to contribute their own memories, adding to a growing archive of the city’s social history.
Art continues to anchor the capital’s programming. At Louvre Abu Dhabi, Picasso, the Figure runs until May 31, offering a focused examination of Pablo Picasso’s lifelong engagement with the human form. Drawing largely from the Musee National Picasso-Paris, the exhibition positions the artist not simply as a pioneer of abstraction, but as a painter fundamentally preoccupied with the figure, even at his most experimental.
Rather than following a strict chronology, the exhibition is organised around recurring gestures that shaped his practice, from schematisation and hybridisation to stylisation and fragmentation. These themes trace the evolution of his artistic figures across decades of formal experimentation, from early influences in Iberian and African art to the fractured planes of Cubism and the urgent, expressive works of his later years.
The exhibition also places Picasso in dialogue with artists from the region, including Iraqi painter Dia Al Azzawi, whose work responds to conflict with a similar visual language of fragmentation and scale. Through these connections, the show situates Picasso’s legacy within both global and regional contexts.
On April 25, Louvre Abu Dhabi will also host a screening of Young Picasso, a documentary exploring the artist’s formative years across Malaga, Barcelona and Paris, offering further insight into the early influences that shaped his trajectory.
At the Cultural Foundation, the And After exhibition continues until April 12.
The group show explores the element of air through Arabic concepts including sukoon, hawaa, naseem and riyah. Featuring works by 15 artists, it reflects on stillness, movement and the subtle shifts that shape both environment and perception.
Meanwhile, Qasr Al Watan is hosting Golden Ink: A Journey through Arab and Islamic Manuscripts until April 7. The exhibition brings together rare works spanning science, literature, religion and philosophy, with contributions from Abu Dhabi Libraries, McGill University and regional collections. Through immersive displays and detailed curation, it highlights the intellectual legacy of the Islamic world and its global relevance.
Music also forms part of the month’s cultural offering. On April 16, the UAE National Orchestra will present From Screen to Stage at the Cultural Foundation, performing scores from Emirati television and cinema in a live setting. Drawing on productions such as Freej and Al Kameen, the concert revisits familiar compositions while celebrating the composers behind them.
For those interested in hands-on engagement, Manarat Al Saadiyat continues to host Al-Qomra Photography meet-ups. Held biweekly, the sessions bring together photographers of all levels through workshops, discussions and photo walks in a bid to strengthen the emirate’s creative community.
