SFMOMA’s Countdown Celebration: Looking Forward

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This weekend, SFMOMA does an epic countdown to its temporary three-year closing, with ceremonies and activities befitting a major metropolitan art museum. Prompted by a partnership with the Doris and Donald Fisher family (the family behind the Gap Inc. empire), the museum is embarking on what they’re dubbing a “Campaign to Transform SFMOMA,” starting with expanding the current museum to make room to exhibit some of the 1,100 works of the private Fisher Collection. The expansion will result in a new building that will house nearly six times the current museum space when SFMOMA reopens in early 2016.

Among the activities to look forward to as part of the Countdown Celebration this weekend: a kickoff party featuring Anchor Brewing Company beer and T-shirt printing by Refinery29, one last opportunity to experience Christian Marclay’s The Clock in its 24-hour glory, a weekend of Off the Grid food trucks to fuel your art-viewing marathon, and a farewell processional. (Be warned, though: museum admission and all Countdown Celebration activities are free this weekend, which means you can expect long waits. That might be where the food trucks come in.)

Among the invaluable works to look forward to when SFMOMA unveils its new home: Lichtensteins, Warhols, Calders, and hundreds of other masterpieces that the Fisher family first began amassing in the 1970s, shortly after founding Gap. Click through our gallery for a sneak peek provided by SFMOMA of some of the major pieces to anticipate viewing with your own eyeballs in 2016 (many of which were on display in the 2010 exhibit Calder to Warhol: Introducing the Fisher Collection).

Lee Krasner, Polar Stampede, 1961; oil on canvas

Roy Lichtenstein, Live Ammo (“Tzing”), 1962; oil on canvas

Richard Serra, 1-1-1-1, 1969; hot rolled steel

Cy Twombly, Note 1 (from the series III Notes from Salalah), 2005–2007; acrylic on wood panel

Andy Warhol, Triple Elvis, 1963; silkscreen ink and spray paint on linen

Philip Guston, As It Goes, 1978; oil on canvas

Chuck Close, Agnes, 1998; oil on canvas

Alexander Calder, Double Gong, 1953

Andy Warhol, Nine Multicolored Marilyns [Reversal Series], 1976/1986

Gerhard Richter, Seestücke (Seascape), 1998