MUSEUMS MAKING A COMEBACK

Restorations, renovations and revamps galore at top galleries

NEUE NATIONALGALERIE

It took some six years and 35,000 shifted components, but Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie has finally reopened following its renovation by Sir David Chipperfield. The hope is that with new lighting, air-conditioning and infrastructure for moving art, Mies van der Rohe’s seminal design will be preserved for decades (smb.museum).

CASA BATLLÓ

Signing off on years of meticulous renovation, the Bernat family have opened an immersive experience in the basement of this Antoni Gaudí-designed house in Barcelona. Visual installations and an LED cube are upstaged by the kinetic mesh curtain designed by Kengo Kuma for the main staircase (casabatllo.es).

THE COURTAULD

With two brand-new galleries and a revamp of London’s oldest purpose-built exhibition space, The Courtauld’s three-year renovation represents the most significant in its history. A new painting by British artist Cecily Brown will be unveiled on the curved wall of the 18th-century staircase in celebration (courtauld.ac.uk).