In six months Tampa’s often frustrating, labyrinthian path to a new art museum will be history. Rafael who? Courthouse option? Feb. 5 is the designated date for the riverfront debut of the new, $36-million Tampa Museum of Art.
TMA will no longer be woefully undersized, uncommonly nondescript — and a lackluster, poor cousin to its counterparts in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. A sleek, translucent, iconic structure addresses that nicely, thank you. Along with the adjacent Children’s Museum, now under construction, TMA will make the concept of a downtown Tampa cultural district a reality – not hyperbole or an oxymoron.
And how significant that TMA is sending all the right signals by bringing in a major Henri Matisse show, featuring many limited-edition prints among the 170 works, for its inaugural presentation. Congratulations, Todd Smith and cohorts. Matisse is one of the great artists of the 20th century.
The thinking is big. The bar is set high. And the perspective of expressionism appropriate. Starting Feb. 5, Tampa will be seen differently.