Making Impressions

The cascade of glowing curly glass clusters on a chandelier designed by Dale Chihuly creates a dramatic entrance to the exhibit halls of the recently expanded Colorado Springs Fine Art Center (FAC). Inside the glass-walled new wing, classic light-filled canvases by Monet, Degas, and Renoir hang alongside stark 20th-century works by Picasso, Pollock, and O’Keeffe. The show Impressionist and Modern Masters, which is on loan from the New Orleans Museum of Art, intentionally juxtaposes these diverse works.

“It’s a unique exhibition that highlights the Impressionist movement as a dramatic turning point in the history of art,” says Tariana Navas-Nieves, an FAC curator.

But it’s more that just the artwork that’s earning this museum the moniker MoMa of the Mountains; the building it’s housed in is just as impressive. Architect David Owen Tryba connected his 48,000-square-foot expansion, which opened last fall, to the original FAC building, mirroring materials and lines to complement the 1936 art deco landmark. A dozen new galleries and a sculpture garden between the structures now accommodate the Center’s impressive 20,000-piece permanent collection.

Focusing on art of the Americas, FAC exhibits sweep from Indian textiles and Latin American paintings to Western landscapes and Ansel Adams photographs to works from modern masters like Andy Warhol, Richard Diebenkorn, and Robert Motherwell. “This expansion allows us to attract the very best exhibitions traveling the world today,” Navas-Nieves explains. Upcoming shows include Life as a Legend: Marilyn Monroe, which looks at the cultural icon through photos, pop art, and various media, and The Baroque World of Fernando Botero, a 50-year retrospective of the Colombian artist’s distinctive figures.

The exhibit Impressionist and Modern Masters is on display at the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center through March 9.

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Photograph: courtesy Phillip Spears/Colorado Springs Fine Art Center