Gallery featuring European, sporting art to be temporarily closed at VMFA due to renovations

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- A gallery featuring European and sporting art will be temporarily closed at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) in Richmond due to an expansion project.

Beginning on Tuesday, Sept. 16, VMFA's Paul and Rachel Mellon Collections of European Art and Sporting Art will be taken off view, and their respective galleries will be closed for the duration of the museum's expansion and renovation project.

According to the museum, Marble Hall, which is one of the museum's event spaces and the location of Sol LeWitt's "Wall Drawing #541," will also be taken off display during that time.

VMFA's expansion and renovation project includes the newly planned McGlothlin Wing II, which will add about 173,000 square feet of new gallery spaces for American art and Indigenous American art, contemporary art and more.

The new wing will also include a special events space that will reportedly seat 500 people, meeting rooms, as well as an additional cafe and bar.

The project will also renovate about 45,000 square feet of existing gallery space in the 1936, 1970 and 2010 wings, with thousands of square feet of new space for a photography gallery and the Raysor Center for Works on Paper.

There will also be expanded galleries for European art from the Medieval to Impressionism, according to the VMFA.

Several works from its African art and Indigenous American art collections will reportedly return to view on Saturday, Sept. 27, in a special installation called "Community and Continuity: African Art and Indigenous American Art."

The acclaimed exhibition "Frida: Beyond the Myth" will be on view at the VMFA through Sept. 28.

Later this fall, visitors can view the exhibition "Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys," on display from Nov. 22 through March 1, 2026.

Updates on the expansion and renovation project can be found on VMFA’s website.