Rembrandt, Vermeer & the Dutch Golden Age Exhibition at Louvre Abu Dhabi

Rembrandt, Vermeer & the Dutch Golden Age Masterpieces from The Leiden Collection and the Musée du Louvre exhibition will open at Louvre Abu Dhabi on 14 February – 18 May 2019

Louvre Abu Dhabi’s first international exhibition

The exhibition features 95 artworks and objects including 15 paintings by Rembrandt van Rijn, also paintings and drawings by Rembrandt’s contemporaries in the Netherlands, as well as several small paintings by 17^th-century fine painters, some of which were later owned by King Louis XVI of France.

Johannes Vermeer’s The Lacemaker (Musée du Louvre) and Young Woman Seated at a Virginal (The Leiden Collection), painted on canvas cut from the same bolt, will hang next to each other for the first time in 300 years at Louvre Abu Dhabi.

Thomas Kaplan, founder of The Leiden Collection, observed:

“My family considers Louvre Abu Dhabi to represent the single most important cultural initiative of our generation – and this exhibition of treasures from the Dutch Golden Age to be our greatest ‘passion project’. By bringing The Leiden Collection to Abu Dhabi in collaboration with the Musée du Louvre, we gratefully honour our deep relationship with France as well as our profound partnership with the Emirates, the shared values of which extend from wildlife conservation to preserving endangered cultural heritage. We also pay homage to the genius of Rembrandt and Vermeer, whose transcendent influence and illuminating insights continue to inspire artists and the public across the globe and right up to the present time. More than any other painter’s legacy, we believe Rembrandt’s ability to touch the soul represents a uniquely fitting expression of this visionary Franco-Emirati project seeking to promote tolerance and the common civilization of mankind.”

HE Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, commented:

“The very inception and early success of Louvre Abu Dhabi was founded on our close friendship with France and our multi-layered partnerships with global museums and art institutions. In 2019, the UAE is celebrating the Year of Tolerance, which is testament to our long standing tradition of nurturing a culture of openness and exchange. The exhibition ‘Rembrandt, Vermeer & the Dutch Golden Age’ illustrates not only the importance of cross border cultural collaborations, but also how artistic creativity has always been at the heart of great historic moments.”