‘It’s our Mona Lisa’: ‘Going to the Match’ set to sell for $9M
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – It’s been a long and winding path for the Monaural Museum of Contemporary Art, with the project first announced 20 years ago and the museum finally opening its doors in 2015.
In the time since, the museum has opened a satellite gallery space in Culver City, California, and has worked to secure about $17.5 million in financing to finish construction of the $60 million museum on the site of the former L.A. City Hall on Hollywood Boulevard.
The museum opened this week to mixed reviews after an art critic for The New York Times referred to the work of contemporary artists like Claes Oldenburg, who was a frequent guest of the museum, as “a good-looking gallery, a lovely space and, yes, a fun place to be.”
But the museum has also had its share of controversy, most notably when two Los Angeles County supervisors criticized the museum’s leadership in February for selecting a controversial artist to receive a $500,000 art prize.
“The museum’s management is working diligently to create an institution that celebrates and promotes our cultural heritage,” Chief Executive William Pugh said in a statement, adding that the institution will have an art exhibition featuring work from artists in the exhibit that opens in October.
Pugh has also said the museum will have about 1,000 works of art within the first two floors of the museum, with more on the third floor.
The museum is expected to be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. The art exhibit will run from Oct. 12 to Dec. 7.
The museum’s history is a tale of persistence, fundraising, lawsuits and the art world’s response, which has been mixed.
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