SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- January 18, 2005 marks the tenth anniversary of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s (SFMOMA)’s Mario Botta–designed building on Third Street. An instant architectural landmark from its opening in 1995, the building has dramatically enhanced the San Francisco skyline and anchors the South of Market neighborhood as a burgeoning arts center. Its grand scale has allowed the Museum to mount more exhibitions, hold more education programs, host more visitors, and welcome more members than previously possible in the old location on Van Ness Avenue.

The Botta building also allows the Museum to highlight its own collection that has been growing over the past decade—a collection that is equally as extraordinary as the building itself. “The grandeur of our new building inspired the institution to acquire extensively and impressively over the past decade,” commented SFMOMA Director Neal Benezra. “Since the opening we’ve developed one of the nation’s leading collections of modern and contemporary art. We’ve acquired several landmark works such as Robert Rauschenberg’s Erased De Kooning Drawing, 1953; Les Valeurs personnelles (Personal Values), 1952, by René Magritte; Louise Bourgeois’s The Nest, 1994; and Splitting: Four Corners, 1974, by Gordon Matta-Clark, among many others.”

SFMOMA opens its doors to the public to celebrate the tenth anniversary with a special community day on Saturday, January 22. Families are invited to celebrate the last ten years in the Mario Botta building with music, performances, and hands-on art projects focusing on the architecture of the SFMOMA building.