A member of the family behind one of the art world's most storied names has made Abu Dhabi home. Dillon Lawson-Johnston, the great-great-grandson of Solomon R. Guggenheim, has moved to Saadiyat Island with his wife, Chloe, and their two children, becoming the only Guggenheim relative currently based in the emirate.
The relocation comes weeks before the long-awaited opening of Guggenheim Abu Dhabi on December 11, 2026. Designed by architect Frank Gehry, the museum will be the largest in the Guggenheim network, with a curatorial focus on art from the 1960s onward and a particular emphasis on West Asia, North Africa and South Asia.
Lawson-Johnston, who co-founded Guggenheim Brothers Media in 2024, has built a working partnership with Ethmar International Holding, the Abu Dhabi firm involved in the museum project. He describes his move as more than symbolic. "I don't want to just be a passive inheritor of a name," he said. "I want to play a very meaningful role in what the Guggenheim name will mean in the future."
The family's connection to museum-building runs deep. His grandfather, Peter Lawson-Johnston, was a driving force behind both the Bilbao and Abu Dhabi Guggenheim projects, continuing a legacy that stretches back to Solomon R. Guggenheim's pioneering collection in the 1920s and his aunt Peggy Guggenheim's early patronage of Jackson Pollock in 1943.
With the Saadiyat Island museum now in its final stretch before opening, Lawson-Johnston's presence on the ground signals a deepening tie between one of modern art's most influential dynasties and the UAE's rapidly expanding cultural ambitions.