The Waqif Art Center
The Waqif Art Center aims to preserve and enhance both Qatari and Middle Eastern artistic traditions, bringing together thosewho love art and culture to share knowledge and ideas, talent and inspiration.
Over the centuries the art of the Middle East has developed a visual language that continuously inspires some of the most famous names in art, yet for decades our finest artists have felt the need to move to major art centers in Europe and America to have their work seen and appreciated. As new museums and galleries open across the region, there has never been a more important time to establish a new center for art commerce in Doha in order to convey Qatar's artistic message to the rest of the world.
The Orientalists
When: December 1st - December 4th
Location: Waqif Art Center - Souk Waqif, Doha Qatar.
The Orientalists Exhibition, sponsored by HSBC Qatar and under patronage of H.E Sheik Hassan bin Mohamed bin Ali Al Thani, vice-chairperson of Qatar Museums Authority, will be held at Waqif Art Center in Doha from 20/11 to 4/12, and will bring about a large number of highly valued Oil Paintings, Watercolours and Lithographs, from the 19th Century like David Roberts lithographs and Charles Theodore Frere oil paintings, among others.
British 19th century artists were lured to the East by a fascination with the exotic and the improvement in the condition of travel. Many of these artists repeatedly made visits to the East, often for months or even years in time, in order to explore the vast horizon of the desert, the magic of the souqs or the mystery of the culture. Their artworks are a representation of their experiences.
The Orientalists Exhibition will feature the British Contemporary artists June Bartlett, Peter Upton, Harold Wood, Mike Donnelly and Terence Gilbert, as well as the Egyptian Contemporary Ahmed Moustafa at Waqif Art Center.
