Burj al Arab Hotel

The hotel offers the ultimate in luxury and features extraordinary art, design, architectural splendour, ample gold leaf, dancing fountains and a towering 180-metre atrium.

Until now, the unique hotel has dominated Dubai's skyline and has only been accessible by select advanced reservation holders and hotel residents.

Louise Duggan, the founder of Ophelia Art Consultancy, was invited by KCA International and Burj Al Arab to develop nine artworks for the new visitor’s experience.

Ophelia Art Consultancy received carpet and fabric samples so they could create a seamless journey from the floor, furniture and art. One challenge was creating artworks that function within the already bold interior but still be powerful enough as standalone paintings.

Duggan says of her inspiration, “We loved this idea that while living we share the energy of the elements, air, earth, fire and water.

Greek philosophy describes these as primal powers since none can survive without each other. All support life.

To embody this, we used gold lines to illustrate the movement of energy. We wanted to use the gold lines and elements of gold leaf to bring the paintings together as a collection, but more importantly, the gold in each artwork represents this idea that, as guests pass through the hotel, they leave their own trail of energy in this iconic building, therefore, adding to its life force.

Anyone that has visited this iconic hotel has left a little bit of their energy in this hotel".