The Louvre Abu Dhabi gives the public a preview of it's collection

Edouard Manet's "The Bohemian."

To commemorate the beginning of construction of The Louvre Abu Dhabi, the public this week was given a preview of 19 of it's masterpieces at the Emirates Palace hotel.

When the 260,000 square-foot Louvre Abu Dhabi opens in 2013, it'll probably be the world's most expensive museum. Abu Dhabi will pay France $555 million for the use of the Louvre’s name and also allow it get art loans from The Louvre, as well as management advice. The plan is to build a $27 billion tourist and cultural development on Saadiyat Island, off the city’s coast which also includes the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.

With an acquisitions budget of more than $56 million a year, paintings already bought for the Louvre Abu Dhabi include a canvas by Jean-François de Troy, “Esther Fainting Before Ahaseurus,” from 1730, and the two Edouard Manets, “The Bohemian” and “Still Life With Bag and Garlic”.