The Barjeel Art Foundation has announced the development of its new museum in Sharjah, set to open in early 2028.
The museum will serve as a permanent home for much of the Barjeel Art Foundation’s extensive collection of modern and contemporary art from the Arab world. Several thematic sections will map the evolution of art in the region, with two central galleries planned as temporary exhibition spaces. In addition to committing to a gender-balanced display of artwork, continuing the Barjeel Art Foundation’s mission to showcase the work of female artists from the region, the museum will unveil a number of previously unseen pieces to the public. Curator of the Barjeel Art Foundation, Rémi Homs, says: “This permanent home reflects our commitment to preserving and narrating the history of art from the Arab World. It is conceived as a space for future generations from diverse horizons to discover, study, and draw inspiration from our shared cultural heritage.”
While the Barjeel Art Foundation, founded in 2010 by Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, has previously been temporarily hosted at the Maraya Art Centre from 2010 to 2018 and at the Sharjah Art Museum from 2018 to 2025, the opening of a permanent space marks an important new chapter for the collection. Director of the Barjeel Art Foundation, Suheyla Takesh, shares that: “Barjeel Art Foundation’s collection has, for many years, existed as an itinerant one. This gave us an opportunity to collaborate with numerous institutions and experience the collection across different contexts. Now, we are looking forward to it having a home, and to so many works by artists from across the Arab World to be on view together in one place.”
The museum will be erected on a plot of land provided by His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi on Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road, with a structure inspired by the architecture of modern residential buildings in the surrounding Sharjah area and based on a sketch by Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, with Mohammed Essa of Architecture Corner Consultants designing the building. Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi expressed: “We are deeply grateful to the government of Sharjah for granting us this land on such a significant site. Establishing a permanent home for the collection has long been a dream.”
