Sharjah Art Museum: Stories on the Walls

Inside, the story unfolds in fragments – a portrait here, a sculpture there – until the sweep of Arab modernism comes into view. More than 500 works form the permanent collection. Louay Kayyali’s faces still carry the weight of their time, while Saloua Raouda Choucair’s sculptures turn geometry into language. Canvases by Faiq Hassan and Ismail Fattah recall Baghdad’s restless energy, and a permanent gallery keeps their voices alive long after the studios fell silent. Above the exhibition halls, a fine art library holds over 4,000 titles in Arabic, English, and other languages, making the building as much a workspace as a sanctuary.

Exhibitions arrive like new conversations. Over the years the museum has staged more than a hundred, some introducing international names to the UAE and others restoring recognition to Arab artists who defined the region’s modernist movement. Since 2010 the ‘Lasting Impressions’ series has devoted each season to a single career. Abdul Qader Al Rais, Najat Makki, Samia Halaby – each has filled the galleries with decades of work, often for the first time in one place.

Some of the liveliest scenes unfold away from the galleries, in rooms where paper, paint, and calligraphy brushes wait for their turn. In 2023 the museum organised 138 workshops that drew more than 2,600 people. On weekday mornings children sketch quietly in groups, their drawings pinned up by the end of the hour. Weekends bring families painting side by side, while retirees lean into calligraphy with the same care they once gave to letters and ledgers. Every age group finds a place here, and programmes are shaped with accessibility in mind, so the elderly and visitors with disabilities are never left at the margins.

Step outside and Sharjah Biennial may dominate the headlines, yet the museum sustains the city’s everyday rhythm of art. Its three floors tie temporary exhibitions to the permanent collection, bridging familiar works with new arrivals. The building itself is modest, but once inside it behaves like a civic square – a place to gather, study, and return to.