Long time no see

I love living in a place that the rest of the world comes to explore! So many people travel here for holidays or stop by during their journeys elsewhere, which means - I get to catch up with said people, sometimes friends I haven't seen in a really long time.

This week, I was actually booked to do a tour for an old guide colleague of mine from my Lefkas days, Therese, and her family. They are in Dubai for the week, but wanted to come see the museum and explore Abu Dhabi, so I helped them arrange a driver for the day and got to give them a tour.

They also went to the mosque, and did a bit of a drive around in the city center, and then Nathan and I met them for Taco Tuesday dinner down in Yas Bay before they head back to Dubai. A quick but such an enjoyable catch-up!

The SwedishLadies enjoying Picasso

The Picasso, the Figure exhibition has attracted a lot of attention since opening. I have already delivered a bunch of tours of it, and this week it was time for the SwedishLadies-group to come.
It's always different to deliver in Swedish, as it happens so rarely. But this time it went rather well. These stories are so much fun to tell, I enjoy every part and every room of this exhibition.

A rather big group this time! A great morning!

Picasso, the Figure

This week it was time to open the latest temporary exhibition at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, a highly anticipated exhibition - Picasso, The Figure.

I was doing both the VIP Opening on Monday, and the Members Preview on Tuesday. I was excited because the last exhibition I opened was the Post-Impressionism and that was so much fun. I was also rather nervous, because - well, Picasso! But nerves are good, keeps you sharp!

This exhibition offers a journey through Picasso's work centered on the question on figure. It explores how Picasso all throughout his life continued to to reinvent representation and expression.

Using a narrative linked by the ancestral world heritage of myths, it is structured into five thematic sections; from the emergency of Cubism, through his return to classicism, via his fascination with metamorphosis to his sculptural biomorphic figures and his restless figures of his final years.

It ends with a room full of Picasso's later works, showing the Picasso canon, my favourite section.

I was doing the VIP Opening together with Vivien and Termy, the dream team for the evening!
Apparently there was a record attendance for this opening, which bodes well for future interest in tours!

On Tuesday it was the Members Preview with Termy and myself. We had dressed for the occasion, very on brand!
I had bought us these t-shirts from Uniqlo already early last year, when we knew this exhibition was coming. Kathleen also got one for her birthday, but unfortunately she is still in Belgium.

The Members Preview night meant that I did three tours back-to-back. It is actually rather good, because it helps to consolidate all the information and fine-tune the tour.

Now I am ready, bring on all the Picasso tours!

Galette des Rois celebration

The Galette des Rois is part of a very French celebration held in January to celebrate Epiphany. Today we were all invited to take part in this celebration at work, and crown some Kings and Queens!

A beautifully golden set-up with an abundance of Galettes des Rois. What a spread!
This is a favourite cake of mine, French puff pastry filled with almond cream, mmm! It was absolutely delicious.

A lovely mix of cultures, with the galettes and the luqaimat (an iconic Emirati dessert, sweet dumplings) side by side!

Traditionally a small porcelain figure, a fève, is baked inside each galette, and the person who finds it gets to wear the crown, and will get good fortune for the year ahead. Termy was one of the winners!

Parts of the Education team getting ready to enjoy some cake!

Back to normal

So, I sent Mum home early Thursday morning. She was a bit anxious about traveling on her own, but at least she was in Business Class, so traveling very comfortably from here to Copenhagen to start with. 
They had warned for snow and traffic disruptions on all the trains in South-West Sweden, but all her three (!) train trips went without a hitch. 
It took her most of the day, but she got home no problem, and the house was still standing, so all good!

Now she has done the trip once, it will be easier next time.

I was back at work straight away, no time to loose. We have the Picasso opening in only two weeks, so lots of work ahead!

Xmas LAD Lunch

As Kathleen was going home to Belgium for Christmas, we decided to have a lush lunch during our last workday together. So we took Vivien and went to Fouquets, om nom nom. What a great lunch break!

Always nice to celebrate together!

New neighbours

Having lived here for many, many years now, I have seen and followed the evolution of the Saadiyat Cultural District ever since the first plans were presented. Finally we are starting to see these plans become reality as some of our new neighbours have recently opened this winter.
The other day Kathleen and I took a buggy in the beautiful weather to go check them out.

Both the Zayed National Museum and the National History Museum are now open, and even though I want to save visiting them for the first time until the kids get here, we did a drive by. The buggies now go all around the Saadiyat Cultural District, which is really cool.

We did enter the NHM to have lunch, and were surprised to discover that already the entrance was full of dinosaurs! Rather impressive, and very cool!

It is really nice to see these institutions now become reality, and to get new neighbours. They complement Louvre Abu Dhabi so well, this area is become a massive cultural epicenter!

The saddest farewell

Today at work it was the last work day for two of our colleagues in our Education team, Richa and Ann. It was time to get together and say farewell to them, with cake of course! 

It was a bit of a sad day, as we will really really miss Ann, above all. Richa worked in a different place in Education but Ann was our Team Leader, and our work days will be looking very different without her. She was the true rock of the team, and the one everyone leaned on. 

Richa is continuing her journey at the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, and Ann is moving to a manager position in the newly opened Natural History Museum. I wish them both good luck!

Great minds think alike

I guess we spend too much time together when we end up coming to work in identical outfits, without having coordinated beforehand..? Telepathic connections?

 Or maybe its just that great minds think alike?

Art Here 2025

Louvre Abu Dhabi has also inaugurated the 5th edition of 'Art Here', to celebrate contemporary art in the region. This time on the theme of Shadows. For each edition the invitation has been extended further and further away, so this year the artists are coming not only from the GCC but also from Japan. 
Out of over 400 submissions, 6 artworks (by 7 artists, one is done by a duo) are competing this season. 

I really liked these artworks, and the fact that they are once again displayed outside and interacting with the architecture. I took the following photos in the daytime, but considering the theme is Shadows, I believe the artworks come even more to their right during the evenings. I will have to stay late one day and see!

Tree Studies, by Hamra Abbas from Pakistan. Beautifully colourful artwork made out of cut stones of lapis lazuli, and marble.

I remember. A light, by Palestinian artist Ahmed Al Aqra. Like a library of frozen memories!

Skadw by Riouchi Kurokawa, from Japan. This is actually a 16 minute long installation that involves sounds, lights and fog. It doesn't really come to its right through a photo.

Echo, by Emirati artist Jumairy. An artwork you are supposed to interact with, inspired by the myth of Echo and Narcissus.

A Sundial for the Night without End, by Rintero Fuse from Japan. This is placed on top of one of the buildings, on the viewing terrace. A poignant place for this artwork, with the beautiful views over the Saadiyat Cultural District.

Choreography of a cloud, dancing shadows, by the duo Yokome and Bouyad, from Japan and Morocco. I absolutely love this installation, love love love! So poetic!

Mamluks, Legacy of an Empire

Coming back to work much later than normally this year, a new exhibition had already premiered at the museum in the middle of September, 'Mamluks, Legacy of an Empire'. 

This will be one that I actually will not be delivering. The first one ever that I skip! As I haven't been there for any of the training sessions, reading circles, curatorial walk-throughs etc, it would be impossible to catch up on the studying.

This exhibition is about the Mamluk Sultanate (1250-1517), and it is the first in forty years to be devoted to this dynasty. 

The Mamluks were enslaved soldiers who seized power in Egypt and the Greater Syria after overthrowing the Ayyubid dynasty they once served. For the nearly 250 years that followed, the medieval West Asia enjoyed a golden age under the Mamluk rule. There are many masterpieces in the exhibition, left by the Mamluks to testify to the power and patronage of its leaders. 

The exhibition fits perfectly into the universal approach of the museum by providing a new and broader view of this period, from a more global perspective. It goes beyond the traditional focus on the military elite and reveals the complex and multifaceted Malmuk society as a whole. 

It's another beautiful exhibition.

Closing the book on the 2024-2025 season

I came back from Sweden to work, work, work for a few weeks; and now it's time to go back again for the rest of the summer.

Work these weeks was fairly quiet, as it usually is during the summer months. Not many school visits, not many tourists, not much else to do. Gives us time to study and research though, which is always needed!

Kathleen came back from Belgium only this week, giving us just four days together at work. But we made the most of them! A little birthday celebration of her and Vivien in the museum café:

And an end-of-the season lush lunch at Fouquets with my Dream Team, before Termy and I now set off on our summer travels:

As you know, I enjoy my stats. Here are the ones from this 2024-2025 season:

I worked 117 days and I did 166 deliverables at the museum. 
Out of those, it was 98 general tours, 1 Architecture Tour, 32 school tours or school engagements, 15 External Tours, 17 tours of the Post-Impressionism and 3 tours of the Kings & Queens exhibition. 
As per usual, add to that special events, Mediations and the Tour Guide Training Programme with all that holds, it's been another busy year!
And - I still love what I do! 

But for now, its todaloo! Time for a bit of a break!