The clock is ticking down. Frida and Diego, Mark, and Henri will have to move soon as their home will close temporarily on June 3. A model of the new building now sits in the Atrium where museum renderings offer a sense of what to expect when it opens in 2016 with more open space, free to the public.
"We'll have two incredible new entrances to the museum. To do that, we'll have a new windowed, beautiful open space on Howard Street for the public to come to. And that will be right in keeping with the new Transbay terminal," said Katie Tamony with SF MOMA.
Behind the museum, demolition of the Heald building has begun. This will help make room for a multi-story addition. In all, the project will add 225,000 square feet of new space.
Between now and completion, much of the art will be in a top secret storage location, but some of it will be on the go at other Bay Area museums. "We'll be at the contemporary Jewish Museum, the YBCA, the Asian Art Museum, the Kantor, Berkeley Art museum," Tamony told ABC7 News.
Emily Fudge has been a member since it opened in 1995. "It's very difficult to think that it's going to be closed for two-and-a-half years, but I know in New York City, when they had the museum closed, they moved exhibits other places and it was kind of fun to explore some new venues for the art," she sid.
The museum will be free for everyone the last four days before closure -- this Thursday through Sunday.
