REIMAGINING THE MUSEUM

The reinstallation and reinterpretation of The Ringling’s exceptional collections of European art in the original 21 galleries in the Museum of Art has been a major focus of the work of Dr. Virginia Brilliant, Ulla R. Searing Curator of Collections, for the last two years, and represents a new and transformative vision for the Museum of Art.

“The current arrangement, which is based chronologically and has not been revised since the 1980s, does not convey to visitors what is special about our holdings,” said Steven High. “By reimagining the Museum of Art’s entire suite of galleries, we will bring John Ringling’s vision into the 21st century and enhance the visitor experience for generations to come.”

When John Ringling died in 1936, he stipulated that his collection not be sold but otherwise granted an enormous amount of freedom, hoping and expecting that his Sarasota legacy would grow and change.

With this in mind, Brilliant, together with former Metropolitan Museum of Art designer Jeff Daly, has planned an ambitious scheme, working from the premise that meaningful encounters with individual works of art should be the centerpiece of the visitor experience, and that the Museum of Art should be welcoming to visitors and present its collections in accessible and engaging ways. The two surveyed recent successful museum installations of similar material—including the Wallace Collection, Metropolitan Museum, Yale University Art Gallery, and the Rijksmuseum— particularly where modern design principles have been brought to historic buildings and collections. “This reinstallation project represents an entirely