Will The Gulf States’ Extravagant Cultural Projects Change The Story Of Art History?

“The museum, which opened in November, fits with a wider cultural movement in the Gulf. Over the past decade, the region has begun a sort of cultural arms race, one that counters its image as a wealthy desert with little culture or history. I.M. Pei’s Museum of Islamic Art opened in 2008 in Doha, and when it is completed in a year or so, Jean Nouvel’s desert-rose design for the National Museum of Qatar may even surpass his vision for the Louvre.”