A major exhibition of impressionist art opened Wednesday at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, featuring works from masters such as Cezanne, Degas, Manet, Monet, Pissarro and Renoir.

Billed as one of the most significant exhibitions on the 19th century art movement ever held outside France, it features more than 150 works on loan from the Musee d'Orsay in Paris.

Claude Monet's "Women in the Garden" is among the masterpieces on show from the movement characterised by rapid dabs and brushstrokes that explore the transient effects of light and colour.

"Impressionism: Pathways to Modernity", to run until February 5, marks five years since the opening of the art museum in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

It also features etchings, costumes, photos and film on the rebellious and convention-busting art movement born as industrialisation and urbanisation brought social upheaval in Europe.

That theme resonates in today's Gulf region, "where we also face the challenge of this modernity and this transition to a new world", said Sylvie Patry, general curator of the Musee d'Orsay.

French President Emmanuel Macron inaugurated the Louvre Abu Dhabi in 2007 in the Emirates, one of the world's leading oil exporters and largest arms buyers.

Louvre Abu Dhabi director Manuel Rabate said one of the "fundamental missions" of the museum was to "present the great movements of the history of art such as Impressionism".

"To tell the story of Impressionism, you have to have the incredible loans that come from the Musee d'Orsay".

To mark its first five years, the Louvre Abu Dhabi acquired a special birthday gift, for an undisclosed price -- Pierre-Auguste Renoir's masterpiece "The Cup of Chocolate".