"Qatar Museums was founded in 2005 by Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the daughter of the former emir of the country. As Qataris like to point out, Doha's engagement with international contemporary art began before that of the UAE and well before that of Saudi Arabia; its I.M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art opened in 2008 and Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in 2010, while museums elsewhere were still in the planning stages."
"In the early stages of Qatar Museums, a fluidity between royal family patronage and the country's institutions meant that many of the major collections were begun privately by the Al Thanis and then latterly took the shape of public museums. Sheikh Hassan Al Thani's superlative Arab Modernism collection became the core of Mathaf, while the late Sheikh Saud Al Thani's collection of Orientalist painting will anchor the forthcoming Lusail Art Museum."
Art Basel's arrival in Qatar and the Middle East connects to two decades of heavy investment in contemporary art. Qatar Museums, founded in 2005 by Sheikha Al-Mayassa, has driven institutional growth including the I.M. Pei Museum of Islamic Art (2008) and Mathaf (2010). Major forthcoming projects include the Rubaiya quadrennial, modelled on Documenta, alongside ongoing refurbishments such as Lina Ghotmeh's Mathaf work and Wael Shawky's Fire Station changes. Early collections originated in Al Thani family patronage and later became public museum cores, exemplified by Sheikh Hassan and Sheikh Saud Al Thani's holdings. Centralised museum control constrained grassroots commercial scenes but enabled organised, long-term cultural planning.
Read at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events
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