Leonardo da Vinci’s $450m Salvator Mundi to go on show at Louvre Abu Dhabi

Officials at Louvre Abu Dhabi have announced that Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi will go on show on 18 September at the new museum in the United Arab Emirates. The work—one of fewer than 20 surviving paintings by the Renaissance artist—sold for $450m at Christie’s in New York on 15 November last year.

The presence of an ultra-famous work in a museum is a great draw: the Louvre in Paris, which had 7.4 million visitors in 2016, estimates that 80% come in the first instance to see Leonardo’s Mona Lisa (visitor figures for the Louvre Abu Dhabi will be made available in November—the first anniversary of the museum's opening).

After its unveiling at Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Salvator Mundi will be lent to the Musée du Louvre in Paris as part of the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition marking the 500th anniversary of his death (24 October 2019-24 February 2020).