HE Sheikha al-Mayassa, HE Dr al-Kuwari and other dignitaries during the official opening of the exhibition, Intolerance, by Belgian artist Luc Tuymans, in Doha yesterday.

Qatar Museums is presenting “Intolerance”, a major retrospective by internationally acclaimed Belgian artist Luc Tuymans, from today until January 30, 2016, at QM Gallery Al Riwaq. This is his first solo show in the Gulf region .
“Presented by Qatar Museums under the leadership of its chairperson HE Sheikha al-Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Intolerance is unprecedented in its scale and content, reflecting the career of Luc Tuymans. The show is both a retrospective and a showcase for new work by the artist,” a statement from Qatar Museums explained.
The exhibition was officially inaugurated by HE Sheikha Al Mayassa yesterday, the official Qatar News Agency reported. HE the Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage Dr Hamad bin Abdul Aziz al-Kuwari, Qatar Museums vice-chairperson HE Sheikh Hassan bin Mohamed al-Thani and HE Sheikh Jassim bin Abdul Aziz al-Thani attended the opening.  
The exhibition includes a series of wall paintings and a new body of work, The Arena, created specifically for the show. The exhibition has been curated by Lynne Cooke, senior curator of special projects in modern art at the National Gallery of Art, Washington.
Jean-Paul Engelen, director of public art at Qatar Museums, said: “Qatar Museums is proud to present Intolerance, the region’s first solo exhibition of work by the internationally renowned Belgian painter, Luc Tuymans. We are delighted to bring Luc’s work to this region to inspire and influence aspiring artists from the region and educate our communities about international art.
Spanning some 30 years, the exhibition “speaks to certain abiding preoccupations that Tuymans has long explored against the backdrop of a rapidly changing world”, the statement notes. “Well aware from the outset of his career that painting as an art form was widely considered in crisis, Tuymans adopted a contrasting stance. Painting became for him a vehicle through which the most urgent and volatile issues, whether relating to history, identity, nationalism and belief, or to headline social and political events, could be opened up to a nuanced debate.”  
Tuymans is widely credited with having contributed to the revival of painting in the 1990s. His works are featured in museum collections worldwide, including The Art Institute of Chicago; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; MoMA, New York; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York; and Tate Gallery, London.  
Over the past seven years, Qatar Museums has presented a series of major solo exhibitions by internationally acclaimed contemporary artists, including Etel Adnan, Louise Bourgeois, Cai Guo-Qiang, Mona Hatoum, Damien Hirst, Takashi Murakami, Shirin Neshat, Yan Pei-Ming, Wael Shawky, Richard Serra and Francesco Vezzoli.
In addition, Qatar Museums has exhibited local artists such as Yousef Ahmad and Faraj Daham and also worked to develop significant opportunities for the development of artists in the region.
The most recent of these initiatives is the Fire Station “Artist in Residence” programme, a new studio and gallery space, providing residencies and mentoring for local artists and reflecting Qatar Museum’s vision of enriching the lives of all those who live in and visit Qatar and inspiring an indigenous culture of creativity and innovation.
Entry to the exhibition is free and the opening hours are as follows: Sunday, Monday and Wednesday – 10.30am to 5.30pm, Thursday – 12noon to 8pm, Friday – 2pm to 8pm and Saturday – 12noon to 8pm. It will remain closed on Tuesday.
For more information on the exhibition and upcoming activities, one can visit http://www.qm.org.qa/en/lt