Construction began on a site in downtown Saskatoon in 2013. On Saturday, the Remai Modern finally opened.
Dozens gathered in rainy weather for the opening ceremony, before the museum was officially opened.
“I hope once people come in they say, ‘wow, I didn’t realize what was possible in our city,’” Mayor Charlie Clark said.
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Clark summed up the project by saying, “it’s an ambitious building for an ambitious city.”
“On opening weekend, the building is the star in a way. The chance to see the beautiful atrium, the mesmerizing spaces and everything else, but I think people are also captured by the exhibition we’ve presented and they’ll come back,” Gregory Burke, the Remai Modern executive director and CEO, said.
“You can’t take it all in on one go,” he added.
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The museum has seen its opening date pushed back several times back and a building budget which has increased.
The final capital construction cost totalled $84.6 million. Burke estimated the museum holds $60 million worth of art.
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The museum features 11 gallery spaces and 8,000 works spread throughout four levels.
The third floor features the world’s largest collection of Picasso linocut prints, worth $20 million.
The works were a gift from Ellen Remai, who has contributed $103 million to the museum.
“It is said, when words fail, art speaks, and that is certainly true today. It has been an accumulation of nearly seven years of dreaming, planning, fundraising, and building,” said Remai during the ceremony.
“A great city deserves great art,” she added.
The ground floor is free for the public, and features an atrium, a restaurant, a store and one gallery.
“There’s all this public space that’s sort of built right into this main floor, which I like to think of as the living room of our city. There’s such a tremendous chance for us to be inspired in this building,” Clark said.
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Organizers expected upwards of 7,000 people to attend opening weekend.
The Remai Modern will be open with regular business hours starting on Tuesday.
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