Originally published in the Marina Times San Francisco in May 2016
On May 14th, SFMOMA will open its doors to the public after a massive seven year expansion project. This expansion includes a 10-story, 235,000 –square-foot addition designed by Snøhetta, an architecture and design company based in Oslo, Norway whose notable structures include the National September 11 Museum at the World Trade Center Site in New York, NY.
With more than three times its previous space, SFMOMA has partnered with public and private collections to present museumgoers with a multitude of modern art pieces, many of which have never been seen in public before. The ground floor will greet visitors with contemporary art at every entrance. Richard Serra’s sculpture Sequence (2006) is located in the ground floor’s free public space area. The second floor is the location of the Helen and Charles Schwab Hall featuring Sol LeWitt’s Wall Drawing 895: Loopy Doopy (white and blue) (1999). Other touchstone works by Frida Kahlo, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko are on view as well as a gallery of works on paper and another devoted to California artists. The third floor contains the Pritzker Center for Photography which is the largest gallery, research and interpretive space devoted to this medium in any U.S. art museum. The Doris and Donald Fisher collection begins on the third floor and extends thematically to the sixth floor. During its opening, SFMOMA will display nearly 260 works from the Fisher collection including a terrace devoted to the sculpture of Alexander Calder and other works by nearly 70 postwar and contemporary artists. Special dedicated spaces to sculpture are featured on the fifth sixth floors along with a collection of gifts of contemporary art on floor seven, where works by Jeff Koons and Cindy Sherman are enclosed in a loft-like gallery with city views.
“This expansion enables us to tap more fully into the energy all around us, in a region known for its special creativity and beauty, while greatly increasing the presentations of a collection that includes remarkable concentrations of artworks that can be found nowhere else,” said Neal Benezra, the Helen and Charles Schwab Director of SFMOMA.
Other components of the expansion include 45,000 square feet of free public access and free admission in perpetuity for all visitors 18 and younger. Annual membership begins at $100, and general admission will be $25, admission for seniors 65 and older will be $22. The new SFMOMA will be open seven days a week from 10am until 5pm through Labor Day.