Modernizing the Modern!

The process of modernizing MoMA has not been easy.  " These projects are like a contact sport," says director Glenn Lowry.  " At every moment, you are getting bruised and beaten."  Taniguchi's building expands the museum's premises to 630,000 square feet, adding 40,000 square feet of gallery space, and reflects a major rethinking of the museum, its collection, and its curatorial ambitions.  

When the museum reopens, it will run over virtually the entire building to its permanent collection.  Once visitors enter the lobby, they will come upon a contemporary gallery on the second floor.  The gallery will house an installation of works that date from the 1970s to 2004 and represent each of museum's six collecting departments: painting and sculpture; photography; drawings; prints and illustrated books; architecture and design; and films and media.

Visitors will travel up to the fourth and fifth floors to view older works.  The fifth floor will house classic modern works from 1880 to about 1940, where the museum's prized Picasso, the 1907 Les demoiselles d'Avignon, which has been cleaned and reframed, will occupy the second room.  The fourth floor will start around 1940 and run through 1970.  The second floor will represent the 1970s onward.  The 1970s demarcation between the galleries reflects the importance of media work, particularly the increasing prominence of photography.

----- to be continued