At the Abu Dhabi Art Fair

“Many dealers brought art that they hoped might end up in the Louvre or Guggenheim being built nearby on Saadiyat Island. … A few American dealers described feeling like they were making a pilgrimage to present their wares to the king. Though it was not entirely clear whom they were meant to impress when it came to acquisitions.”

French Historians Rail Against Sarkozy’s Planned French History Museum

“Just as François Mitterrand built the Louvre pyramid and Georges Pompidou lent his name to the landmark modern art museum, Sarkozy is searching for his own cultural legacy. But his planned museum, with its emphasis on ‘national identity’, has been attacked by academics as a dangerous, nationalistic attempt to pervert history for his own rightwing ideological purposes.”