Louvre Abu Dhabi this week launched an exhibition of impressionist masterpieces from the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. With more than 150 paintings, is it the Middle East’s largest collection of impressionist art, charting the rise of one of the art world’s most transformative movements through the pioneering work of Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Manet, Degas and Cezanne.
As Louvre Abu Dhabi prepares to celebrate its fifth anniversary, the impressionist collection draws parallels with the museum’s first special exhibition, five years ago.
Titled "From One Louvre to Another: Opening a Museum for Everyone", the 2017 collection featured 150 masterpieces from the Chateau de Versailles and Louvre Museum Paris, including statues, paintings and ceramics from around the world.
The temporary exhibition revived memories of 17th and 18th-century France, retracing the Parisian museum’s origins to a time when the public began to gain access to French royal collections.
It explored how the collections at Versailles were displayed in the gardens, the state apartments and the king’s private apartment, before exploring how Paris's Louvre palace was transformed into a hotbed of creative energy in the 18th century ― before the 1793 launch of the museum itself in the wake of the French Revolution.
The collection featured the stunning statue, Diana of Versailles, alongside other remarkable works such as the Creation of the World clock, a bronze masterpiece of 18th-century French clockmaking with four complex mechanisms; Jean Garnier's painting Allegory of Louis XIV, Protector of Arts and Sciences from 1672; and the Barberini Vase, made in Syria between 1239 and 1260 — demonstrating the brilliance of Syrian coppersmiths.
From One Louvre to Another focused on way the Louvre in Paris became known as a “universal museum”, acquiring works from across the 19th-century world. This model would later be embodied by Louvre Abu Dhabi, described by its director Manuel Rabate as the Arab world’s first universal museum.
As the exhibition launched, Rabate said: “We are proud to start with this jewel ― it shows the creation of the Louvre in Paris as a universal museum.
“The Louvre in Paris was a transformational milestone in France and we hope to achieve the same with Louvre Abu Dhabi.”
Scroll through images of Louvre Abu Dhabi's Impressionism exhibition below
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'Bazille Studio' (1870), oil on canvas by Frederic Bazille and Edouard Manet. Victor Besa / The National -
'Floor Scrapers' (1875), oil on canvas by Gustave Caillebotte. Victor Besa / The National -
'In the Cafe' (1880), oil on canvas by Gustave Caillebotte. Victor Besa / The National -
'The Bezique Game' (1880), oil on canvas by Gustave Caillebotte. Victor Besa / The National -
'Spring' (1857), oil on canvas by Charles-Francois Daubigny. Victor Besa / The National -
'Woman with a Coffee Pot' (1890-95), oil on canvas by Paul Cezanne. Victor Besa / The National -
Sylvie Patry, chief curator and deputy director for Collections and Curatorial Affairs at Musée d’Orsay. Victor Besa / The National -
'Apples and Oranges' (1839), oil on canvas by Paul Cezanne. Victor Besa / The National -
'The Pastures under a Cloudy Sky' (1856-60), oil on canvas by Constant Troyon. Victor Besa / The National -
'Family Reunion' (1867-1841), oil on canvas by Frederic Bazille. Victor Besa / The National -
'The Cup of Chocolate' (1877-78), oil on canvas by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Victor Besa / The National -
'The Ice Floes' (1880), oil on canvas by Claude Monet. Victor Besa / The National -
'The Improvised Field Hospital' (1865), oil on canvas by Frederic Bazille. Victor Besa / The National -
'A Studio at Les Batignolles' (1870), oil on canvas by Henri Fantin-Latour. Victor Besa / The National -
'The Two Sisters' (1863), oil on canvas by James Tissot. Victor Besa / The National -
'Rue Montorgueil, Paris' (1878), oil on canvas by Claude Monet. Victor Besa / The National -
'Saint-Lazare Railway Station' (1877), oil on canvas by Claude Monet. Victor Besa / The National -
'The Balcony' (1868-69), oil on canvas by Edouard Manet. Victor Besa / The National -
'Floor Scrapers' by Gustave Cailebotte, oil on canvas. Khushnum Bhandari / The National -
The exhibition is running until February. Khushnum Bhandari / The National -
It highlights how the French artists, known as 'the impressionists', were rebels of their time. Khushnum Bhandari / The National -
Their vibrant brushstrokes and outdoor landscapes broke conventional art rules in the 19th century. Khushnum Bhandari / The National -
'The Lady with the Glove' by Carlos-Duran. Khushnum Bhandari / The National
