DOHA.- Qatar Museums today announced that the reopening of its institutions will continue in August with new temporary and online exhibitions at the Museum of Islamic Art, National Museum of Qatar, and Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, as well as the reopening of museum libraries and all of QM’s parks and playgrounds with temporary restrictions in place. This phased-in expansion of services follows the July reopening of heritage sites and the permanent collection galleries of a number of QM museums, in accordance with recommendations from Qatar’s Health Protection & Communicable Disease Control office of the Ministry of Public Health.

New health and safety protocols include requiring visitors to purchase tickets in advance on QM’s website, to present a “green” health status on the Ehteraz virus-tracing app, and to bring and wear face coverings for the duration of their visit.

QM’s ambitious program of special exhibitions, which was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will resume with opportunities for the public to enjoy artworks and artifacts that span centuries and the globe. Drawn from the holdings of Qatar Museums and from major loans, these temporary exhibitions present artistic treasures assembled over the years by one of Qatar’s greatest collectors, survey the achievements of two important contemporary women artists of Arab background, and provide stunning insights into the creative life of one of the greatest artists of the modern era.

Ahmad Al Namla, CEO of Qatar Museums, stated: “With pleasure, I welcome all to the opening of our temporary exhibitions giving our public the opportunity to explore the masterpieces assembled in these exceptional exhibitions. I express my gratitude and appreciation to Qatar Museums staff who have worked tirelessly during the challenging lockdown period to put together these exhibitions, I am especially grateful to the Partners who have extended the loan period for these extraordinary works, so the exhibitions can be presented as originally envisioned.” ​

Exhibitions opening on 2nd August include A Falcon’s Eye: Tribute to Sheikh Saoud Al Thani at Museum of Islamic Art, and Yto Barrada: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nougat, Huguette Caland: Faces and Places and Lived Forward: Art and Culture in Doha from 1960–2020 at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art. Starting 10 August, Picasso’s Studios, which is organized in partnership with the Musée national Picasso-Paris and has been on view since 1 July at the Doha Fire Station’s Garage Gallery, will offer extended evening hours, remaining open until 8pm on Mondays and Wednesdays.




Though the National Museum of Qatar will remain closed, the museum has developed two digital exhibitions, which will be accessible on the NMoQ website in August. Qatar’s Culinary Journey and Habitat & Shelters feature themes that are explored in the National Museum’s permanent galleries and include crowd-sourced material.

Exhibitions on view this summer include:

A Falcon’s Eye: Tribute to Sheikh Saoud Al Thani at the Museum of Islamic Art (2 August – 10 April 2021) celebrates the outstanding accomplishments of one of Qatar’s greatest collectors, who was largely responsible for laying the foundation for Qatar Museums’ world-class collections. The exhibition showcases more than 300 outstanding art works from prehistoric fossils and Egyptian antiquities to Orientalist paintings and masterpieces of the history of photography in a spectacular display following the concept of Renaissance “cabinets of curiosities,” reflecting Sheikh Saoud’s fascination with both natural history and the world of art.

Yto Barrada: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nougat at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art (2 August– 30 November) is the first major solo exhibition in the Gulf region of Moroccan-French artist Yto Barrada (b. 1971). Barrada’s work engages with self-education, architecture, palaeontology, botany and modernist histories in order to explore forms of knowledge production. My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nougat, brings together photographs, films, videos, sculptures, prints and fabric works that focus on threads of regeneration and growth in social and geological transformation. Barrada is the founder of the Cinémathèque de Tanger in 2006 and has exhibited extensively internationally. The exhibition is organized by curator Laura Barlow and assistant curator Wadha Al-Aqeedi.

Huguette Caland: Faces and Places at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art (2 August – 30 November is Huguette Caland's first solo museum exhibition in the Arab region, featuring six decades of her paintings, drawings, caftans, smocks and sculptures, including a selection of never before exhibited works. Born in the cosmopolitan city of Beirut in 1931, Caland was the daughter of the first president of the independent Republic of Lebanon, but defied social expectations by pursuing a career as an artist. The exhibition is organized around three different geographical locations that define Caland's personal and professional journey: Beirut, Paris and California. The exhibition is curated by Mohammed Al Thani with Noora Abdulmajeed.

Lived Forward: Art and Culture in Doha from 1960–2020 at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art (2 August – 30 November) focuses on Mathaf Collection as a starting point that expands on research and local collaborations, this exhibition looks at reference points of generations of artists, intellectuals and cultural activists who played a major role in activating the cultural scene in Doha for more than half a century. The show presents the work of key artists and figures through the display of paintings, archival materials, photography, video, and installation. Artists list: Saleh Taher, Faiq Hassan, Gazbia Sirry, Adam Henein, Ibrahim Al Salahi, Khalifa Al Qattan, Jassim Zaini, Dia Al Azzawi, Abdulwahed Al Mawlawi, Hassan Al Mulla, Youssef Ahmad, Wafika Sultan Al Essa, Faraj Daham, Mohammed Ali Abdulah, Saif Al Kuwari, Ali Hassan, Salman Al Malik, Yousef Al Sharif, Hassan bin Mohammed Al Thani, Wafa Al Hamad, Aisha Al Misned, Sophia Al Maria, Bouthayna Al Muftah and Sara Al Obaidly. Lived Forward is curated by Lina Ramadan

Picasso’s Studios at Fire Station Artist in Residence (1 July – 1 November) brings visitors imaginatively into the series of workspaces where Pablo Picasso achieved his creative breakthroughs, as seen through major artworks drawn from the collection of the Musée national Picasso in Paris. Picasso’s Studios is among the components of the Qatar-France 2020 Year of Culture, fostering cultural exchange and mutual understanding between the two nations.