Clark Art Closing to Complete Expansion Project
 The Clark Art is looking toward summer and the opening of the newly expanded campus. This is the last chance to visit the galleries until July. |
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute will be closed the next three months to complete the final phases of its three-year expansion project.
The last glimpses of the galleries will be offered this weekend before the museum closes Sunday, March 23, at 5 p.m.
It won't open again until July 4, when the ribbon will be cut on the $145 million project, welcoming back elements of the permanent collection that have been on a round-the-world tour the last few years and a slew of new summer exhibitions.
The library remains open and the auditorium will continue to host a limited schedule of public programs throughout the early spring. The Stone Hill Center will also be accessible Tuesday through Sunday.
"We are entering the most intense and exciting phase of our campus expansion program," said Clark Director Michael Conforti. "It's necessary to close the galleries temporarily in order to begin the complex process of readying multiple exhibition spaces. During the next few months we will be focused on preparing our buildings and grounds for our opening. We look forward to welcoming our friends and neighbors to the new Clark on July 4."
The opening will include the new visitor center designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando from Osaka, Japan.
The museum building will open with a new installation of works from the Clark's permanent collection in renovated and expanded galleries designed by New York-based Selldorf Architects.
The visitor center adds 11,000 square feet of gallery space and will open with two special exhibitions, "Make It New: Abstract Painting from the National Gallery of Art, 1950–1975" and "Cast for Eternity: Ancient Ritual Bronzes" from the Shanghai Museum. The Stone Hill Center galleries will feature "Raw Color: The Circles of David Smith."
Gallery space in the renovated museum building has been expanded by 15 percent, as a reconfiguration of former back-of-house areas adds some 2,200 square feet for an expanded presentation of the permanent collection.
This weekend will also be the last free weekend of the season; once the museum reopens in July, admission will be $20 through October.
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