Art Future

Although the entire museum is still under development, there are bits and pieces that are open. See the exhibition on view now at the Cleveland Museum of Art; Building for the Future.

The plan developed by the founders of the Museum was to erect a beautiful building, fill it with the finest works of art that could be found, and open its doors to the people of this city free of charge, was not only simple, it was also effective. Today, the museum welcomes about 500,000 visitors each year and its collection, which numbers more than 42,000 works of art, is widely acknowledged as one of the finest in the world.



To accommodate the growth of its collection and educational activities, the museum expanded several times in the past 50 years. While these additions provided much-needed galleries, classrooms, and workspaces, they also gradually obscured the clarity of the original plan and created an odd assortment of buildings that were difficult for visitors to make their way through and, by the end of the last decade, in need of major improvements and repairs.

To address these problems and to enable it to serve the needs of the community in the future, the Cleveland Museum of Art has recently embarked upon a major renovation and expansion. Scheduled for completion in 2011, this project will quite literally transform the museum and, at the same time, sustain the vision of its founders, who believed that the arts should be accessible to all.

For directions, hours and special museum events visit www.clevelandart.org