The Abu Dhabi Louvre, designed by Jean Nouvel, is expected to open in late 2016. Already the theme of palm-tree shading is detectable in the elaborate filigree dome, whose geometric openings are intended to represent interlaced palm leaves used in traditional roofing. The gaps will create a shifting 'rain of light' in the galleries, which will present a world-class collection of paintings, sculpture and objects from antiquity to the present.
Works will be selected from the Louvre's vast repositories, and there will be loans from other leading French museums. Among the pieces expected to be displayed when doors first open is an 3000-year-old Egyptian statue of King Ramesses II, a Bronze Age breast plate from France, a medieval reliquary chest, Leonardo da Vinci's Woman Portrait , Van Gogh's Self-Portrait and Andy Warhol's Big Electric Chair.
