Qatar's art impresario talks to The Economist about her blueprint for the future

In her first major interview, Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani talks to the Economist about the Qatar Museum Authority's mission to be a cultural instigator and catalyst of projects world wide, which is turning Qatar into a cultural destination. Read more...
Image: Head of the Qatar Museums Authority Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani

Qatar pays the highest price ever for a work of art

The Royal family of the tiny, oil-rich nation of Qatar has purchased Cezanne's The Card Players for a record $250 million, more than doubling the current auction record for a work of art. The Emir of Qatar's daughter, Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamid bin Khalifa Al-Thani, is the mastermind behind the global art buying spree by the nation crowned the single biggest contemporary art buyer in the world. Read more...
Image: Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, one of the museums working under the umbrella of the Qatar Museums Authority, headed by Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamid bin Khalifa Al-Thani.

Qatar presents Louise Bourgeois as its latest cultural initiative

The first solo survey of the work of Louise Bourgeois in the Middle East has opened at the Qatar Museums Authority Gallery. Featuring 32 works spanning the artist's career, the exhibition Louise Bourgeois: Conscious and Unconscious is part of a series of cultural initiatives that are being rolled out under the watch of QMA chairperson Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani,who was positioned in a recent Power 100 list as the most influential person in the art world.

The Louise Bourgeois survey follows Cai Guo-Qiang's first solo exhibition in the Middle East at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art as the museum looked eastwards to consider the dynamics of the longstanding, but little-known relationship between China and the Arab world. Mathaf also works under the umbrella of the Qatar Museums Authority.
Image: Louise Bourgeois' Maman in Qatar