Museum shows off its art in a new light

The new North Carolina Museum of Art, which opened this weekend, really is spectacular. From the outside, it has all the charm of a tin warehouse, but the architects' use of natural light really does display the art in wonderful ways. After reading about the museum, I was eager to see how the natural light could be used as pervasively as described without creating glare and sun damage. The skylights throughout every gallery direct a muted light into the high-ceilinged galleries, and the floor-to-ceiling windows are covered by sheer fabric, eliminating any glare or hot spots. This lighting shows the familiar art from the permanent collection in, well, a new light and validates the bold and expensive decision to move from the adjacent museum, only about 30 years old, into a new and much larger venue.

For me, the highlight of today's visit was the Rodin collection. I had been fascinated by Rodin since I first saw his "Burghers of Calais" at the Hirschorn Museum in Washington more than 35 years ago. Rodin's depiction of hands, arms and legs give his sculptures a strength and a kinetic feel. The museum has a dozen or so small Rodin sculptures plus a huge "The Thinker," his most famous work, and several life-size or larger sculptures in the Rodin garden.

Today's opening festivities included interpretive dance by students from the N.C. School of the Arts. The dancers provided a bit of "performance art" as they struck poses and synchronized movements in the galleries and in the gardens throughout the afternoon. Larry Wheeler, the museum director who pushed for the new museum building, strolled among the visitors as if he were just another citizen come to see what the artsy crowd had done now.

Two other pieces that caught my eye were glass art from the collection of Lisa and Dudley Anderson of Wilson. Oddly, "Green Eye," on loan from the Andersons, was not identified with a plaque like all the other art was.

This weekend's opening was a grand occasion with entertainment and special events each day, but the new gallery space lived up to its billing as something special.