The Saint Louis Art Museum in Forest Park will reopen Tuesday, June 16, with safety guidelines in place for visitors and staff.
Visitors will be required to wear masks and expected to practice social distancing throughout the museum. They will also be directed to only enter through the East Building via the garage or the front door on Fine Arts Drive. In addition, capacity in the exhibition space and other galleries will be limited. Some behind-the-scenes precautions include daily temperature checks for staff. Days and hours of operation remain unchanged. The museum’s onsite restaurant, Panorama, and the cafe will open at a later date.
“For more than 140 years, the museum has been an essential part of the civic life of St. Louis, and it will remain a source of inspiration, education and delight during difficult times,” said museum director Brent Benjamin.
The Saint Louis Art Museum also announced the groundbreaking exhibition, “Millet and Modern Art: From Van Gogh to Dali,” has been extended through Labor Day, Sept. 7. The exhibit, which opened just four weeks before the museum closed on March 16, was originally scheduled to close May 17.
“Millet and Modern Art” shines the spotlight on 19th-century French painter, Jean-François Millet. It was conceived 10 years ago by Simon Kelly, the museum’s curator of modern and contemporary art, and organized in conjunction with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. The exhibition seeks to expand the narrative of the beginnings of modern art by rediscovering the radicalism of Millet (1814–1875) and his influence on a range of artists, including Vincent van Gogh, Winslow Homer, Claude Monet, Edvard Munch, Georges Seurat, Salvador Dalí and others.
Benjamin said he was deeply appreciative of the more than 50 museums and private collectors in 14 countries that agreed to extend loans of art on view for the exhibit.
“Thanks to this, we are able to share with the people of St. Louis unparalleled loans of master works that would properly be classified as national treasures,” Benjamin said.
The new protocols for viewing the exhibition include limiting admission to the exhibition to 15 visitors per 15 minutes. Visitors are strongly encouraged to secure tickets in advance through MetroTix starting Tuesday, June 9, and to visit slam.org/Millet for information.
Additional details on the museum’s safety protocols are available on slam.org.
Groundbreaking Millet Exhibit Brings Iconic Masterworks to St. Louis
