The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum has announced the official opening date for its new Renzo Piano-designed wing as 19th January 2012. Planned to coincide with the original unveiling of the Museum by Isabella Gardner in January 1903, the opening ceremony will be coupled with the first American museum solo show of artist Victoria Morton, whose yet-to-be-titled exhibition will consist of a range of paintings composed exclusively for the event.

Norma Jean Calderwood Director of the Museum, Anne Hawley commented: “The new wing will reveal the vibrant programming that has been constrained by the historic building’s spaces - a true opening up of the Gardner Museum. Our opening celebration in 2012 will feature all of this programming in purpose-built spaces for the first time in the museum’s history. We invite the public to join us as we celebrate the renewal of the Gardner Museum and the premiere of Renzo Piano’s brilliantly designed spaces which give contemporary form to Gardner’s legacy.”