Our nation’s art museums are growing… and growing, and growing. In the past couple of years some of the United States’ finest art museums in cities such as Denver, Minneapolis, Indianapolis and San Francisco have undergone massive expansions. And art institutions in more than half a dozen other cities soon plan to follow suit.
Take a look at the what’s new at some of the following museums:
Denver Art Museum
Architect Daniel Libeskind’s Rocky Mountain-inspired building now sits adjacent to the museum’s original Gio Ponti-designed structure. At 146,000 square feet, it nearly doubles the museum’s size. All that space is now home to larger galleries for modern and contemporary art, including works by Damien Hirst, Jim Dine, Claes Oldenburg, Richard Serra and Andy Warhol, as well as African, Oceanic and Western American art and temporary exhibits.
The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
The Institute just added on a whole new building complete with a dramatic folding ribbon form and a cantilever that extends to Boston’s waterfront. The structure now boasts more than 65,000-square-feet, which is roughly three times the size of its former home. There is now enough space to fit the museum’s first permanent collection of contemporary art and a 325-seat theater for the performing arts.
The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
The massive expansion of the museum’s downtown location included the renovation of a historic Santa Fe baggage depot and a new three-story structure. There is now about 30,000 square feet of new space for art, including new commissioned, site-specific works by Richard Serra, Jenny Holzer and San Diego artist Roman de Salvo.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri
The new five-tiered building connects to the back of the original 1933 structure and adds 70% more space. The sprawling galleries now house larger collections of contemporary art, photography and African art.
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