The Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) in San Francisco received a generous loan offer from Don and Doris Fischer, co-founders of the Gap clothing company, who announced in September that their extensive art collection would be housed at the SFMOMA. The loan has been extended from 25 to 100 years and has made a museum expansion necessary due to the number of pieces in the collection.
The museum has raised $250 million over the last several months and $150 million will go toward the expansion. The first step of the expansion phase is to find an architect to take on the major project. The expansion will be a huge design endeavor and is estimated to cost around $480 million when completed. The current plan entails building an entire wing that will be the permanent residence of the Fischer's loaned artwork. Although the expansion has not begun tourists and city residence can expect to view some of the works as early as June 2010 when the museum plans to begin interspersing the new pieces with their existing collections. For more information regarding the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art please visit their website at www.sfmoma.org.
