Spring Culture Preview 2019: Colossal Art From Qatar to Hudson Yards

A year and a half after the Louvre Abu Dhabi opened, the Gulf is getting another Jean Nouvel landmark—the National Museum of Qatar. Spread across more than 36 acres, the museum, which officially opens in Doha on March 28, contains 560,000 square feet of galleries, conservation space, theaters, educational facilities, and restaurants. “As you walk through the different volumes, you never know what’s coming next,” Nouvel said in a statement. “The idea was to create contrasts, spring surprises.”

One of those surprises will be the museum’s collection, which until now has been a tightly guarded secret. The Al-Thanis, the country’s ruling family, are some of the most prolific collectors in the world. Various branches of the clan own, among other works, The Card Players by Paul Cézanne, the 30-carat Shah Jahan Emerald, and a $142 million triptych by Francis Bacon. But more than 80 percent of the 94,000 square feet of gallery space will be devoted to the museum’s permanent collection, which focuses on “the environmental, cultural, and political history of Qatar.”