The museum will be the fourth Guggenheim-branded institution worldwide and will be designed by Frank Gehry.

Details about the museum’s collection and commissions will be released in coming months by Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism.

The building features 30 galleries, a central atrium, and ten sculptural cones, totaling about 11,600 square metres of interior space and 23,000 square metres of exterior exhibition areas within an 80,000 square metre built-up area.

Guggenheim Abu Dhabi aims to present art across media, organizing exhibitions around major vectors since 1960—Abstractions, Popular Culture, Land, Language, and Storytelling—to foster dialogue across geographies and generations.

Leadership emphasizes culture as a bridge between peoples and a catalyst for forward-looking societies, with the museum serving as a hub of connection and curiosity through a unique local-global collection.

The collection has been in development since 2009 and is designed to reflect the UAE’s cultural and historical context while remaining globally oriented.

Gehry’s death in December 2025 casts the museum’s completion as a posthumous realization of his architectural vision.

Its opening coincides with the district’s expansion, including the upcoming Dar al Funoon Abu Dhabi (House of the Arts) by Gehry, slated for 2030 to add theatres and public spaces.

Architectural design includes nine stainless steel mesh cones and one onyx-and-glass cone, with heights up to 88 metres and natural ventilation features.

Gehry’s Abu Dhabi project is his primary and only major UAE commission and aims to be the largest Guggenheim in the world upon completion.

Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is set to open on December 11, 2026, as part of Saadiyat Cultural District alongside Louvre Abu Dhabi and Zayed National Museum.