Over the 12 days of Christmas, Apollo contributors and guests select their highlights of 2016
View the 12 Days series here
For me, 2016 will be the year of many new museums and one old master, and of good news. Because after spectacular projects, renovations, and extensions in the US and Europe, in 2016 the focus moves to other parts of the world.
Cape Town welcomes a new museum for contemporary African art. The Zeitz MOCAA will house the largest collection of contemporary African art on the continent, and the impressive former grain silo could become the new icon for the city and a beacon for the country.
The Middle East has been in the press for years now with prestigious projects in Qatar and the other Gulf States. In late 2016 the Louvre Abu Dhabi finally will open. The project is part of the emirate’s plan to boost its tourist credentials. The opening of the Zayed National Museum and the Guggenheim will follow in coming years.
The museum boom also has hit Asia. The National Gallery in Singapore opened at the end of 2015. The building works for M+ in Hong Kong are continuing – it’s the largest cultural project in Asia, with its opening scheduled for 2018.
Back home in the Netherlands, the Museum Voorlinden will open in September. This is a new (private) museum, housing the Caldic Collection, one of the most exciting collections of contemporary art, formed by Joop van Caldenborgh over the last decades. And 2016 will the year of the ultimate master of heaven and hell: Jheronimus Bosch. In his hometown of s’–Hertogenbosch, the Noordbrabants Museum will host an exhibition about his life and work (13 February–8 May 2016). And so will the Prado. So I assume I will spend 2016 travelling and being inspired by many different ventures in the art world. I can’t wait.
Wim Pijbes is general director of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Event details
The Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, and the Louvre Abu Dhabi are both expected to open their doors in late 2016.
The National Gallery in Singapore opened in late November.
The Museum Voorlinden will open in September 2016.
‘Jheronimus Bosch’ is at the Noordbrabants Museum, s’–Hertogenbosch, from 13 February–8 May 2016.
‘Bosch: The Centenary’ is at the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, from 31 May–11 September 2016.
![Masterpiece [Re]discovery 2022. Photo: Ben Fisher Photography, courtesy of Masterpiece London](http://www.apollo-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/MPL2022_4263.jpg)
12 Days: Highlights of 2016
National Gallery of Singapore (the former Supreme Court Building) © Darren Soh and National Gallery Singapore
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Over the 12 days of Christmas, Apollo contributors and guests select their highlights of 2016
View the 12 Days series here
For me, 2016 will be the year of many new museums and one old master, and of good news. Because after spectacular projects, renovations, and extensions in the US and Europe, in 2016 the focus moves to other parts of the world.
Cape Town welcomes a new museum for contemporary African art. The Zeitz MOCAA will house the largest collection of contemporary African art on the continent, and the impressive former grain silo could become the new icon for the city and a beacon for the country.
The Middle East has been in the press for years now with prestigious projects in Qatar and the other Gulf States. In late 2016 the Louvre Abu Dhabi finally will open. The project is part of the emirate’s plan to boost its tourist credentials. The opening of the Zayed National Museum and the Guggenheim will follow in coming years.
The museum boom also has hit Asia. The National Gallery in Singapore opened at the end of 2015. The building works for M+ in Hong Kong are continuing – it’s the largest cultural project in Asia, with its opening scheduled for 2018.
Back home in the Netherlands, the Museum Voorlinden will open in September. This is a new (private) museum, housing the Caldic Collection, one of the most exciting collections of contemporary art, formed by Joop van Caldenborgh over the last decades. And 2016 will the year of the ultimate master of heaven and hell: Jheronimus Bosch. In his hometown of s’–Hertogenbosch, the Noordbrabants Museum will host an exhibition about his life and work (13 February–8 May 2016). And so will the Prado. So I assume I will spend 2016 travelling and being inspired by many different ventures in the art world. I can’t wait.
Wim Pijbes is general director of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
View the rest of the 12 Days series here
Event details
The Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, and the Louvre Abu Dhabi are both expected to open their doors in late 2016.
The National Gallery in Singapore opened in late November.
The Museum Voorlinden will open in September 2016.
‘Jheronimus Bosch’ is at the Noordbrabants Museum, s’–Hertogenbosch, from 13 February–8 May 2016.
‘Bosch: The Centenary’ is at the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, from 31 May–11 September 2016.
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