Reopening of the Art Museum of Ponce After Renovation
The new Art Museum of Ponce will open its doors again on November 14th after a multimillion dollar renovation and expansion project. From then on, the public will have the opportunity of enjoying a modern, renovated museum with more space, services and programs, directed towards children, teenagers as well as adults.
“From beginning to end, the focus of this renovation has been visitors”, stated Dr. Agustín Arteaga, director and principal executive official of the Art Museum of Ponce. “From the expansion of the installations and services, to the focus of the curators, our main purpose is making the experience of visitors unique, even before they come in.”
The Renovation and Expansion Project of the Art Museum of Ponce, which began in 2004, was a $30 million dollar investment. This renovation, besides doubling the exposition space, has also allowed to expand on education and cultural services to the community and to increase the number of visits from 75,000 to 100,000 annually, Arteaga explained.
During renovation, the emblematic pieces of the permanent collection- which counts with more than 4,500 pieces, including some of the most appreciated works of the Ore-Raphaelita Brotherhood like June or The Sleep of King Arthur in Avalon, by Edward Coley Burne-Jones—were exhibited in nine countries, 16 museums, and are calculated to have been seen by more than 2.5 million people. The reopening marks their victorious return to Ponce.
“The most prominent part of the reopening will be our new exhibition of the permanent collection, Encuentros: Espacio, Tiempo y Vida”, said Arteaga. “With the new focus, we have opted for presenting 800 pieces of the collection in a thematic manner with the purpose of promoting the discovery of new relations, stimulating conversations and building bridges of understanding.”
According to Arteaga, during the past five years, the Museum collection has increased from 3,800 pieces to over 4,500, with the acquisition of 697 new pieces. The new exhibition will distinguish 40 of these pieces, and 236 painting and sculptures that have been recently restored by the Museum Conversion Center.
“the collection has grown with new and important works, but what will be the new icon of the Museum is Brushstrokes in Flight, a monumental sculpture created in 1984 by Roy Lichtenstein, one of the most prominent exponents of ‘Pop Art’. This imposing work of 28 feet fabricated in painted aluminum was donated by The Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, with the support of Dorothy Lichtenstein and other relatives of the artist. It will be the biggest public piece by the recognized artist in Latin America and the Caribbean”, claimed Arteaga. “It is appropriate to distinguish that the Art Museum of Ponce is one of the 11 museums in the world that has a monumental public piece by Lichtenstein”.
The exhibition of the permanent collection will be complemented by Coleópteros de Puerto Rico, an exhibition that includes scientific illustrations of the recognized artist (and entomologist) Julio Micheli, and that explores the convergence of art and science.
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The Art Museum of Ponce has custody of a valuable collection of over 4,500 European, Puerto Rican, and Latin American art works, that are cultural heritage of Puerto rico. It’s ample collection of European works, dating back to the 9th century B.C. to the present, as well as its education programs and its contemporary art programs, place it as the first cultural institution of the country and the institution with the most international prestige. The Art Museum of Ponce is the only museum in Puerto Rico that is accredited by the American Association of Museums. (of the 20,000 museums in America, only 774 are accredited).
