Met Announces First Show in Whitney’s Breuer Building

The Met’s newly-annexed Breuer building will open with an exhibition exploring unfinished works of art from the Renaissance through the present.

Drawn partially from its own collection, the exhibition will “explore the fascination with unfinished works of art in all media and across time, with a particular focus on those moments when the qualities of such objects were debated and admired, and when an intentionally non finito aesthetic took hold,” according to a Museum document obtained by the New York Times.

Though it remains to be seen what other shows the Met has planned for the Breuer building, the announcement of the first exhibition and its theme  comes despite some initial speculation that the new building would be used to house the Met’s contemporary art holdings, commissions, and installations. For his part, Director Thomas P. Campbell has said in previously published interviews that the museum has no intention of turning the 48-year-old building into a repository for its more contemporary holdings, choosing instead to see the space as an extension of the academic focus that has been at the core of the Met’s mission since its founding.

“We’re not going to take on MoMA, the Whitney or the Guggenheim in areas where they excel,” Campbell told the Times. “What the Met can do is show contemporary art through the lens of history.”

“Unfinished” (working title) will open March 7, 2016 and run through September 5.

 


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