Early regional art, beginning with biblical artifacts, will flow into the beginnings of Israeli art, which will feed into European works and then into the modern and contemporary galleries. New galleries will also allow the museum to double space for the display of 20th-century art, another strength of the collection. (A current show at the museum, Surrealism and Beyond, includes 300 works drawn solely from the museum's collection, from Duchamp to Man Ray to Magritte and Picasso.)
Much of the museum will remain open during the construction, which has just begun. Some permanent galleries will be shut for renovation, but highlights of the collection will be shown at the museum's off-site locations like the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum and the Anna Ticho House.
For Efrat the new project enhances what he sees as "one of the best postwar buildings anywhere" without losing its main achievement: "an indigenous vernacular for the new Jewish state."
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