Museum Opening of the Year

Africa Museum, Tervuren
Reopened December 2018

After a five-year renovation the Africa Museum just outside Brussels, which was once known as ‘the world’s last colonial museum’, doubled its public spaces. It now shows a willingness to confront the realities of Belgian colonialism, and the brutality of the Congo Free State in particular, while also finding new ways to display what is one of the world’s finest collections of Central African art.

Photo: Jo Van de Vyver; © RMCA Tervuren

Arter, Istanbul
Opened September 2019

This non-profit art space moved from a small venue on Istiklal Street to the Dolapdere district. The new building, designed by Grimshaw Architects and costing €120m, includes 3,000 sq m of galleries, two theatres and a sculpture terrace. The core of its holdings comes from the Koç family foundation.

Arter, Istanbul. Photo: Cemal Emden/Arter

Glenstone Museum, Potomac, Maryland
Reopened October 2018

The free-to-enter, private museum of post-war art now has almost six times as much space as when it was founded by Mitchell and Emily Rales in 2006. The complex of 11 concrete and glass structures set in nearly 300 acres includes works by Rothko, Pollock, Basquiat and Cy Twombly.

Glenstone Museum, Potomac, Maryland. Photo: Iwan Baan; courtesy Glenstone Museum

Menil Drawing Institute, Houston
Opened November 2018

Designed by Johnston Marklee architects, this long, low-lying modernist structure is devoted to the study, preservation and display of modern and contemporary drawings. Its first exhibition was dedicated to the work of Jasper Johns.

Menil Drawing Institute, Houston. Photo: Richard Barnes; courtesy the Menil Collection

Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon
Reopened May 2019

A sensitive €60m renovation has refreshed one of the oldest public museums in France, housed in the medieval palace of the dukes of Burgundy. Much of its 130,000-piece collection has also been conserved, some of which can now be displayed for the first time.

Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
Reopened October 2018

After a five-year renovation, the Nationalmuseum has removed decades’ worth of ad-hoc alterations to the building and completely rethought its displays. The number of objects on show from its collection of paintings and decorative arts has now tripled to more than 5,000.