Qatar Museums Announces Gerhard Richter Pavilion For MIA Park

Qatar Museums has announced Doha Pavilion: Gerhard Richter, a permanent, site-specific work of art and architecture that will be installed at MIA Park in Doha.

Qatar Museums Chairperson HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al-Thani announced the project during a special event at Berlin's Neue Nationalgalerie on Thursday, September 10. The pavilion, conceived by German artist Gerhard Richter, will house a body of his paintings and sculpture and is scheduled to be unveiled on November 20, 2026, ahead of the opening of Rubaiya Qatar.

Selldorf Architects worked with Richter to realise his vision for the pavilion. The announcement was made during a roundtable involving Sheikha Al Mayassa, Selldorf Architects Principal Annabelle Selldorf and Tom Eccles, Advisor for Public Art at Qatar Museums and Co-Curator of Rubaiya Qatar.

Sheikha Al Mayassa also took part in a public presentation with Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson on art, patronage and cultural stewardship. She discussed Eliasson's longstanding relationship with Qatar Museums, including his permanent site-specific installation Shadows Traveling on the Sea of the Day and the major exhibition The Curious Desert at the National Museum of Qatar.

Sheikha Al Mayassa said Qatar's public art programme reflects a belief that art is part of everyday life and can create opportunities for knowledge, dialogue and engagement in public spaces. She described the collaboration with Richter as part of the continuing legacy of the Qatar-Germany 2017 Year of Culture and said the pavilion would offer a new space for reflection and engagement with the artist's work.

Richter said the idea for the pavilion developed after his visit to Doha in 2013, during the early stages of his Strip paintings. The structure's exterior will feature decorative tiles based on the Patterns that led to the Strip series, while the interior will display Strip paintings alongside Mirrors, with the Strip Tower installed at the centre.

The hexagonal pavilion's six exterior walls will be covered with repeating patterns composed on printed panels. The patterns relate to Richter's 2011 artist's book Patterns, which documented the creative process behind his Strip paintings. The project translates those digitally derived compositions into an architectural format, extending Richter's exploration of painting and perception into three dimensions.

Rubaiya Qatar, Qatar's first contemporary art quadrennial, will run from November 21, 2026, to April 30, 2027. Its inaugural edition will explore global ecology, the political and geographic importance of water and the maritime heritage connecting Qatar with the world.

The quadrennial will bring together more than 50 regional and international artists, with 25 new commissions and six public art installations. It will take place across multiple sites in Doha, including the newly renovated ALRIWAQ Arts + Architecture building, the Museum of Islamic Art, Katara QM Gallery and Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, as well as public sites across the country.

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