Inside Princeton University’s $300 Million Art Museum Reopening After Seven Years of Transformation

People from New Jersey have seen Princeton University’s stunning new art museum. Seven years were spent planning and building. Princeton University Art Museum’s Halloween renovation cost $300 million. This modern, open space welcomes all ages.

The 146,000-square-foot new museum is twice as big. The pavilions number 9. These pavilions resemble campus Gothic Revival. Marquand Library houses fine arts and conservation studios. The building feels welcoming with all-around doors. Modern geometric building with bronze panels and ribbed concrete is similar to Princeton’s older buildings.

Experience the museum differently. Natural light, warm floors, and sandblasted concrete. This displays the 5,000-year-old collection. Claude Monet, Nick Cave, O’Keeffe, and Warhol showed. See Monet’s “Water Lilies and Japanese Bridge,” Warhol’s 1962 “Blue Marilyn,” Charles Willson Peale’s Battle of Princeton, and international textiles and sculptures.

Since reopening, the museum is packed. Mosaic, the museum’s lively third-floor restaurant, opened recently. Class rooms, terraces, and amphitheaters host events. Big outside and warm inside invite people to stay, think, and enjoy art at their own pace.

Princeton restored over 2,000 works. First, “Princeton Collects,” lists 2021 gifts. Second, “Toshiko Takaezu: Dialogues in Clay,” features the 20th-century Princeton professor and artist’s pottery and sculptures. The exhibit will include Willem de Kooning paintings and Minor White, Aaron Siskind, and Harry Callahan mid-20th-century photographs. These shows will boost the museum locally.

The Princeton University Art Museum celebrates unique architecture, art, and history. Locals and tourists like its free, simple use. It will showcase many art forms in a modern, inviting setting.

Sources
Princeton University Art Museum press releases
NJ Advance Media reports
Interviews with Museum Director James Steward and architectural commentary on David Adjaye and Cooper Robertson.