The Colby College Museum of Art’s Frederick Fisher and Partners Architects-designed expansion will officially open as the Alfond-Lunder Family Pavilion on July 13. Inaugural exhibitions at the enlarged museum will highlight the recently donated Lunder Collection, which has been acknowledged as one of the most important holdings of American art assembled by private collectors. The 26,000-square-foot addition includes a light-filled pavilion attached to the existing museum for an additional 10,000 square feet of exhibition space.

“This new pavilion is conceived as a glass prism that will reflect its natural and architectural context in continuously changing images,” says Frederick Fisher. “The reflecting nature of the glass expresses the theme that art provides the opportunity to reflect on life. This was central to the museum’s position as a beacon of creativity and innovation on campus.”

The pavilion’s minimalist design contrasts with the campus’ existing Georgian-style brick architecture. As the museum’s new main entrance, the addition completes a circuit among its three existing wings. A spacious lobby will include a sculpture gallery and terrace, as well as new exhibition galleries, classrooms, a conference room, and staff offices. A glass-enclosed stairwell will permit visibility from the campus’ main thoroughfare to a three-story wall drawing by Sol LeWitt. The pavilion’s upper floor will hold the college’s art department with new studios for photography and fine arts foundation classes, faculty offices, and a student lounge.

“Until now, our museum may have been something of an underappreciated gem—though not to our students, faculty and alumni, and the citizens of Maine, who have embraced it as one of their finest resources,” says William D. Adams, president, Colby College. “But now, as we celebrate the bicentennial of the college, we can look forward as never before to welcoming visitors from around the country and the world who are going to discover that our museum has risen toward the top in its field.”

The inaugural exhibition in the new Alfond-Lunder Family Pavilion will be the Lunder Collection: A Gift of Art to Colby College. A special exhibition of early Chinese works comprised of the College’s collection and loans from Museum of Fine Arts, Boston will simultaneously be on view, in addition to recent acquisitions from the Alex Katz Foundation, works from the museum’s holdings of John Marin’s work, and photos from the Norma B. Marin Photography Collection.

For more information, visit colby.edu/museum.