The new Hamilton expansion to the Denver Art Museum breathes new life and light into an already amazing art museum. After 6 years of planning and construction the new creation is now open to the public after the 35 hour straight opening featuring live music and performances. I chose to visit the museum after the chaos of the opening.

Vertigo seems to ensue immediately after entering the immense, stair filled venue (not to deter, there are elevators but you will miss you on some amazing views). It's a bit like the Guggenheim layout, except more mountainous views surround the viewer. The new building is the most experimental building to be added to the Denver skyline. The exposed angles penetrate the surrounding area spreading light all around. The new expansion sheds light on the unbelievable collection of modern and primitive art the museum show cases. The curatorial genius is in the juxtaposition of the African art with the Modern collection. This set up allows the viewer to see the influence African art had on the Modern art movement. On the main level there is an expansive collection of Japanese prints donated by collectors John and Kimiko Powers. For the more purists there is also some Western art, but the new addition seems to focus more on the contemporary. For any fans of the magazine Juxtapoz the Modern Japanese collection is a must see. There are some wildly, inventive and somewhat outlandish sculpture and installation to be found in this section as well. Along with the new expansion it's still a great idea to visit the old building to see some excellent examples of European, Asian, Decorative, Western, Primitive, and various other genres of art.

The area surrounding the new building is also growing so it's a great place to spend the day and enjoy some great artwork. There is also a great vegetarian restaurant 3 blocks away called the Watercourse (but beware with scheduling because both the art museum and this excellent restaurant are closed on Mondays). All in all the new addition complements the old well and is a great complement to the city, I would strongly recommend a visit to anyone!

The Denver Art Museum, or DAM, is becoming the arts Mecca between the coasts. This incredible museum is gaining new found notoriety with its recent expansion. The already architecturally pleasing building has taken on a new life of sharp angles and reflective surfaces, it's as though Frank Gehery's cousin has taken over downtown Denver. Gio Ponti, Italian designer, dreamed up the 28-sided, two-towered building in collaboration with James Sudler Associates of Denver. The new building has seven floors of gallery space, stacked vertically to enable visitors and connected by an elevator. The exterior is covered with more than one million faceted, shimmering gray tiles that capture the sun refracting it at all angles, making the building hard to miss.

The museum is open Tuesday through Friday 10am to 5pm with an extended closure time of 9pm on Wednesdays and Saturday from 12pm to 5pm. The Cultural Complex Garage at 13th Avenue and Broadway is the most convenient place to park. It is open daily from 6am to 10pm. The garage charged roughly a dollar an hour. The DAM was founded in 1893 and its collection houses more than 600,000 works of art. The collection ranges from American Indian art, Pre-Columbian, Asian, textile, modern, and design. The expansion is planned to be open to the public in Fall of this year...we are anxiously awaiting it!

This museum appeared very new. It was lovely. We went to the American Photography exhibit. It features American photos from the 1890s to today. There were also galleries on each of the 7 floors. We saw the Western Art gallery that reatured a collection donated from the Jolly Rancher Candy family. There is a pre-Columbin gallery and an Asian gallery too. The museum restaurant Palettes is a great choice featuring smaller and larger plates of eclectic food.

The Denver Art Museum was renovated in 1993. Their collection excels in the areas of Asian, pre-Columbian, Spanish-Colonial, and Southwestern art. The musueum also has some contemporary and modern pieces. They also have special exhibits throughout the year. When I was there, they had a painting by Monet on loan. Not the best art museum I've ever seen, but a good way to spend an afternoon.