December 2011 - Evening exterior view of the new Evans Way Park lobby entrance of the new wing of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Outdoor art installation “Ailanthus” by Stefano Arienti (right). Photo by Nic Lehoux.
On January 19, 2012, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum will open to the public a new addition to its original building, kicking off an inaugural season of exhibitions, performances, and events that highlight the Museum’s wide range of programming.
The new 70,000-square-foot wing was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano to preserve the historic 1902 building and alleviate pressures caused by years of use. Situated behind the original building on its site along the Fenway, the new addition provides purpose-built spaces for concerts, exhibitions, and classes, along with enhanced visitor amenities.
Following special advance previews for Museum members on January 15-18, the grand opening celebration will begin with a ribbon-cutting ceremony with City of Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino on January 19, followed by three days of free Bank of America Community Opening Days from January 19-21.
“This new wing is an extraordinarily elegant workshop, a bustling counterpoint to the historic building’s serenity. Here, the thinking and the work of the Museum is performed, so that the Palace, which had been put to uses for which it was not equipped, can once again give visitors the experience Isabella Stewart Gardner intended: a personal confrontation with art,” said Anne Hawley, Norma Jean Calderwood Director of the Museum.
