Courtesy the Art Institute of Chicago

The museum's " Woman Descending the Staircase" (1965), by Richter

Courtesy the Art Institute of Chicagp

Kandinsky's 'Improvisation No. 30 (Cannons)" (1913)

Richard Serra Ellsworth Kelly Robert Gober Edward Hopper Georges Seurat Philippe Vergne on the Future of Dia Matthew Marks Going West Cleveland: Heather Lemonedes

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"It’s got the signature Renzo vocabulary: light and glass and a sense of transparency," says James Rondeau, the museum’s chief contemporary-art curator. The limestone and glass façade, divided by protruding mullions, is topped by a sun canopy whose photovoltaic cells capture sunlight to help illuminate the interiors.

The addition, which increases the institute’s exhibition space by one-third, is part of a comprehensive plan, scheduled for completion in 2010, to reinstall the collection, including many of the post-1945 holdings it has been unable to display. "It’s a system-wide transformation, and everything will be touched," says Rondeau.

The new space will house expansive works like Richard Serra’s 10,000-pound sculpture Weights and Measures, 1987, and several rooms will be devoted to individual artists, including Robert Gober, Ellsworth Kelly and Charles Ray.

It’s a big step for the institution, which is known for older, world-famous works such as Georges Seurat’s A Sunday on la Grande Jatte — 1884, 1884-86, and Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, 1942. As Rondeau puts it, "Now we hope to provide the next generation of icons."

"A Piano Sonata" originally appeared in the May 2009 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's May 2009 Table of Contents.