A piece of work by Algerian artist Baya Mahieddine. Photo: Courtesy of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Art Collection.
An initiative aiming to collect, promote and exhibit diverse artworks in Dubai has announced details of its first collection. Called the Dubai Collection, it features the personal art collections of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairperson of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority and Chairperson of the Dubai Collection Steering Committee.
The first in-person exhibition of the Dubai Collection will open later this year at the Etihad Museum, with 87 artworks by other prominent collectors in the UAE chosen to be part of it. The artworks will also be accessible to the public through a digital museum to be launched later this year.
Sheikha Latifa said: “The announcement of the first artworks that form part of the Dubai Collection is an exciting moment in the development of the initiative. The innovative partnership model we have developed for the collection reflects Dubai’s emergence as the nucleus of the region’s artistic renaissance and its role as a key player in fostering collaborations that advance cultural development.” The goal is to promote a collector base in the UAE, where most galleries rely on the overseas market for their sales.
HH Sheikha Latifa. Photo: Dubai Media Office
Included in the acquisitions announced on Tuesday are works of leading modern Arab artists, Baya Mahieddine (Algeria, 1931 – 1998), Fateh Moudarres (Syria, 1922 – 1999), and Adam Henein (Egypt, 1929 -2020).
Muna Faisal Al Gurg, director of the Museums Department at Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, and members of Dubai Collection’s independent Curatorial Committee, will meet every three months to review new artworks submitted by patrons in the region.
Featuring leading artists from the region and beyond, themes emerging in Dubai Collection explore identity, belonging, and place, with a focus on Dubai’s dynamic urbanism. Maryam Al Dabbagh, curatorial committee member says: “The Collection takes a non-linear approach, not only in recognizing the contemporaneity of modern work from the region, but also in considering the rich contributions of regional and international artists to the local art scene that has grown alongside the development of Dubai in the last 50 years.”
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