With Louvre Abu Dhabi, France displays new vision for global influence
| Paris
The latticed dome, nearly 600 feet in diameter and comprised of 8,000 metal stars that weigh together the same as the Eiffel Tower, plays with Gulf sunlight to form a 鈥渞ain of light鈥� 鈥� the signature of what is being touted as the most ambitious museum project of the 21st century.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi, perched on Saadiyat Island overlooking the sea, opens to the public on Saturday, bringing the most recognized museum name in the world to the United Arab Emirates. And by lending its most valuable brand, not to mention its know-how, to the project, the French are also wielding power that鈥檚 been on the wane on the world stage but remains impregnable when it comes to cultural patrimony.
Of all of the Western investments in the UAE, from museums to universities, the Louvre's vision is the most spectacular, says Martin Kemp, a professor emeritus of art history at the University of Oxford. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a particularly French vision,鈥� he says on the phone from Abu Dhabi. 鈥淔rance as an operator on a world scale, obviously it is less financially and politically than it used to be, but in a way it can still do that culturally.鈥�
Ten years in the making, the聽Louvre Abu Dhabi is no replica of the 18th-century institution born during the French Revolution. The play of light and shadow under the dome gives the visitor the feel of being in a souk, of being in a grove of palm trees found in the oases of the UAE, says Jean Nouvel, the famed French architect who designed the building.
It is the first 鈥渦niversal museum鈥� in the Arab world and bears testament to the capital's 鈥済olden age,鈥� says Mr. Nouvel. It鈥檚 been billed as a bridge between East and West, reiterated by French President Emmanuel Macron, who attended the museum鈥檚 inauguration Wednesday evening.
The more than $1.2 billion deal was signed back in 2007 under then-President Jacques Chirac. It designated $525 million for the use of the 鈥淟ouvre鈥� title over the next 30 years and $750 million for French experts to oversee 300 loaned works of art from 13 leading museums. Visitors Saturday will be able to view Leonardo da Vinci鈥檚 La Belle Ferronni猫re, on loan from the Louvre, or Vincent van Gogh鈥檚 self-portrait, formerly housed at the Musee D鈥橭rsay and Mus茅e de l'Orangerie.
Tristram Hunt, director of Britain's Victoria and Albert Museum, commended France鈥檚 assertion of soft power, contrasting it with the introversion of Britain in the post-Brexit era. 鈥淲hile Napoleon鈥檚 invasion was hard power,鈥� he wrote , referring to the military leader鈥檚 invasion of Egypt in 1798 to spread Enlightenment ideals, 鈥淢acron鈥檚 visit is all about the long-term insinuation of soft power. Yet it signals a hard truth: if Brexit Britain is going to find its feet as a global player, we need to be thinking about similarly ambitious displays of cultural bravado.鈥�
The deal kicked up a storm of criticism in France. There were those who objected to the Louvre and other institutions arguably selling their souls for petrodollars. 鈥淭he idea of selling or renting the Louvre brand abroad posed one problem,鈥� says Laurent Martin, a professor of the history of cultural policy in France and Europe at the Sorbonne Nouvelle 鈥� Paris 3. 鈥淭o do so with a country that does not respect the values of liberal democratic societies of Europe posed another.鈥�
One of the more concrete controversies to arise during the 10-year project was the abuse of migrant workers constructing the site, called out by Human Rights Watch 鈥� not exactly the stuff of les droits de l'homme (human rights), declared in France in 1789, four years before the Louvre opened to the public.
But none of this was on the agenda as the museum was inaugurated in the presence of kings and other rulers. Mr. Macron called it a showcase, as a 鈥渂ridge between civilizations,鈥� of 鈥渂eauty of the whole world.鈥�
Nouvel, a Pritzker Prize winner who met with the Anglo-American Press Association in Paris in September, told the group he sees the museum as a 鈥渢estimony of this golden age, as was done in every city of the world in the past.鈥� It was built not for decades but for centuries to come: 鈥淚t is like a cathedral in this epoch, it鈥檚 exactly the same thing.鈥�
鈥淎n architect who is ambitious is not ambitious for himself but because the project is so important,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he ambition is the real will to leave the best testimony of the epoch.鈥�
