Beirut Arab Art Museum to Open in 2020 as Largest Museum in City

The Ramzi and Saeda Dalloul Art Foundation will open the Beirut Arab Art Museum in 2020, spanning 15,000 square meters and making it the largest museum in Beirut. The museum will house 4,000 works from the foundation's collection, which focuses on modern and contemporary Arab art and is considered one of the largest in the Middle East. The foundation spends an average of $5 million annually on acquisitions. The museum will feature permanent and temporary exhibitions, all free of charge. The foundation aims to collaborate internationally with institutions such as the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the British Museum in London. The collection, started about forty years ago by Palestinian businessman Ramzi Dalloul, includes works by Mahmoud Saïd, Saliba Douaihy, Etel Adnan, and Dia Al-Azzawi. Basel Dalloul, Ramzi's son, now oversees the collection. In conjunction with the museum's opening, the foundation plans to digitize the entire collection and make it available online. Temporary exhibitions around Beirut are planned for 2018. The museum is part of Beirut's broader cultural expansion, which includes the upcoming BeMA – Beirut Museum of Art, designed by HW Architecture and led by Hala Wardé, and events like the Beirut Art Fair and the first Beirut Design Fair in September 2017.