Since when has a major equivalent museum (National Gallery, Louvre or Prado) had as its remit the requirement to be "fun" (Tate Britain needs to put the fun into art, 2 April)?
A coalition of international artists has begun a year-long protest against the mistreatment and exploitation of migrant workers building Abu Dhabi's £17bn cultural hub, including the world's largest Guggenheim and a branch of the Louvre.
Possibly in an attempt to buttress itself against the day the oil runs out, the city is building a museum complex called Saadiyat Island, which will feature branches of not just the Guggenheim (again) but the Louvre as well.
His favourite spots are a handful of Paris landmarks: the area around the Eiffel Tower, Montmartre with the Sacré Coeur, the Louvre (pictured) or the Pont des arts.
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has called on the United Nations to investigate evidence that thousands of migrant workers in the United Arab Emirates, including those building a new Louvre museum and the world's largest Guggenheim, are treated as slave labour.
His lofty current projects include work with the Louvre and pianist Mikhaïl Rudy, and that ambition trickles down into his dancefloor engagements, which still announce techno as the ultimate transcendent form.
Eminem and Diddy both took photos next to the painting in 2010, and now the Louvre is awash with would-be rappers trying to mimic their idols.
Recent attempts by the Louvre and the Guggenheim to buy or show work by Gulf Labor artists had raised fears the museums were trying to undermine their campaign, she added.
OK, it might be hard to turn it down when the Louvre asks you to build a gigantic upturned colander on Abu Dhabi's pleasure island, or when Sheikh Zayed phones up asking for a museum in the shape of his prize falcon's wings.
Ms Velghe adds that Wiertz might flourish today as a performance artist (he once turned up in Paris with a 28 square-metre painting of the Trojan wars, demanding that it be displayed in a tent outside the Louvre).When Wiertz died in 1865, few seemed to imagine that his estate might one day become a burden.
He tells us how the Louvre in Paris was opened in 1793 as a museum for the history of art but was soon transformed into something different: a repository of surviving specimens of past excellence, a home or temple for masterpieces.
