North Carolina Museum of Art

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA - "Moonlight is sculpture," writer Nathaniel Hawthorne once said. If he were still alive, he may have said the same thing about the sunlight that illuminates the interior of the North Carolina Museum of Art's newest addition - the West Building.

Diffused sunlight pours over the museum's collection of European, American and African art spanning 5,000 years of history. The 127,000-square-foot addition contains 360 skylights, which cast a soft glow through the museum's 40 exhibit galleries.

"It's all composed as a palate for the artwork," said Dan Gottlieb, museum director of planning and exhibition. "It's boiled down to light and art."

The museum reopened Saturday after being closed for seven months for construction.

A grand opening festival continues today with live music, fireworks, lectures and performances by the Carolina Ballet. The event is free.

The museum's showpiece is the new $72.3 million building and the surrounding $4.5 million courtyards, gardens and pools that were created to unify architecture and nature. The rectangular silver building is defined by a curved roofline made of vaults and coffers crafted to manipulate natural light.

"We've taken sort of an extreme tact of letting nature play its course on how you perceive the collection by letting light ebb and flow," Gottlieb said. "If you come here on a gloomy winter day, and you walk into the building, obviously there is less sky brightness outside.

"But what happens is very interesting," he said. "Your pupil dilates a little bit and compensates for that, and the spaces just glow so it feels like it's much brighter and luminous inside the building than it is outside."

Museum director Lawrence J. Wheeler said the new building spearheads the transformation of the entire 164-acre museum complex, which includes an outdoor amphitheater, picnic areas and three miles of walking and bike trails that curve through fields, creeks and woods.

The new West Building will allow museum officials to renovate the 1983 East Building, which also is on site, and turn it into a center for temporary exhibitions, education and public programs and events. The East Building also will house the museum box office, administrative offices, a library and art storage space. Renovations to the East Building are estimated to cost $7.6 million and are scheduled to be finished in the fall.

"As a result of doing this new center for the permanent collection, we have attracted extraordinary gifts to the collection," Wheeler said. "You look around and you will see our fabulous collections punctuated by great new hallmarks."

New York architect Thomas Phifer, whose firm designed the museum, said nature inspired his team to craft a building that commands the light. Filtered skylights, white fabric curtains and a calibrated lighting system adjust for optimum protection and viewing of the works of art.

"Having the light bathe these wonderful works of art in a controlled way really celebrates the collection," Phifer said.

Anodized aluminum panels fused with tall panes of glass form the geometric shape of the building. Glass walls cover nearly 50 percent of the single-story structure. Floor-to-ceiling glass doors open to five scenic courtyards made of landscaped rock gardens and reflecting pools.

The state-of-the-art building borrows from Japanese design in its minimalism and connection to nature. Inside, white walls and white-oak floors fade into the surroundings allowing the museum's comprehensive art collection to shine.

The museum has acquired almost 200 artworks through commissions, gifts and purchases, which have been installed in the new West Building and surrounding property. The collection includes European paintings, sculpture and Egyptian art as well as Jewish ceremonial pieces.

A highlight of the archive is the display of 29 sculptures by Auguste Rodin, which museum officials said is the largest gathering of Rodin sculptures in the South.

In addition to the new building, museum staff developed new audio guides, including a cell phone tour that provides commentary by curators, educators and artists. The new space also houses Iris, a museum restaurant, which serves contemporary seasonal cuisine prepared from local ingredients. A museum store is also on site.

The project was paid for partly through public money. The state, Wake County and the city of Raleigh provided $67 million to construct the West Building and committed $6 million for the renovation of the East Building.

Linda Carlisle, the secretary of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, said North Carolina has always been committed to supporting the arts, which are an important part of the state's economy.

"This exceptional museum will benefit everyone and the opportunity to share it with so many is a great privilege for us," she said. "As the saying goes, 'Any museum can invite you to look, but a truly great museum changes the way that you see.' We hope you will agree with us that this is a very apt description of the North Carolina Museum of Art."

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The N.C. Museum of Art is at 2110 Blue Ridge Road in Raleigh. Call (919) 839-6262 or go to ncartmuseum.org for hours and more information.