Work is well under way at the Denver Art Museum to make room for a brand new welcome center. The completed project in 2021 will include a renovated North Building and a united art museum campus in the heart of the Golden Triangle Creative District.
Meanwhile, the DAM’s Hamilton Building is open 7 days per week during construction, and we will continue to share more as the project continues. Keep an eye on for continued updates about the exciting project.
This article tells the story of how the Denver Art Museum conserved this map. To learn more about the map itself read this article. No longer on view.
History, Artistry & Science
Traditional conservation embodies what I like to refer to as the “holy trinity” of disciplines: history, artistic competency, and science. The marriage of these three areas make conservation stand apart from restoration—or simply making something look good or better.
These videos tell the story of how curators, conservators, and educators worked to conserve The Virgin of Valvanera (on view in Revealing a Mexican Masterpiece: The Virgin of Valvanera), a painting created in the 1700s.
Denver citizens voted in favor of the Our Denver Bond measure 2B on November 7. Measure 2B supports the preservation of and upgrades to the region’s cultural institutions. It is part of the city’s 2A–2G bond package to fix city infrastructure in every neighborhood and help Denver continue to be a great place to live. City voters elected to support all seven bond measures, investing in infrastructure as well as public safety, and recreational and cultural facilities across the Mile High City.
Make sure to drop off your ballot at a polling center or drop-off box on or before Election Day, November 7, 2017. For more information, visit DenverVotes.org. (The ballot mail-in deadline has passed.)
This November, City of Denver voters will have the opportunity to support public investment in infrastructure through the Our Denver Bonds measures 2A–2G. These measures are a plan to fix city infrastructure in every neighborhood.
Keeps Denver a Great Place to Live
Artists have used varnishes to coat their paintings since the 1400s—some claim as early as the eleventh century. Varnishes serve to saturate the paint colors, provide some degree of protection for the paint surface, and to impart an even surface sheen. Some artists have used varnishes as an aesthetic medium, mixing resins into wet paint to create rich translucency or selectively applying them to juxtapose areas of matte and gloss.
Conservation & Varnish
Updated August 17, 2018.
1. The Denver Art Museum will remain open while the North Building is being renovated. Learn about the lineup of current and upcoming exhibitions.
2. The museum is open seven days a week. Learn more about hours.
3. Select artworks from each of our collections will be on view in exhibitions like Stampede: Animals in Art and Ganesha: The Playful Protector, as well as future shows to be announced.
For a painting that is over 300 years old, The Virgin of Valvanera is in remarkably good condition. One would fully expect that a painting of this age has undergone several attempts at restoration (by both skilled and amateur hands). Contrary to what is usually the case, this painting has not incurred major structural damage in the form of tears or losses, has never been lined (i.e. attached to a secondary canvas or solid support material), and has not been severely over-cleaned or extensively repainted.
As part of the research for the conservation treatment of the painting The Virgin of Valvanera, attributed to Cristóbal de Villalpando, a team from the Denver Art Museum traveled to Mexico City in March, 2017. There, the team was fortunate to visit several sites and meet with specialists on Mexican painting of the baroque period.
Art conservation is a field that encompasses a breadth of expertise. As we roll up our sleeves in anticipation of improvements and potential discoveries, a plan that will provide optimum preservation is essential.
Entering its seventh year, the Bank of America Art Conservation Project has funded more than 100 projects in 29 countries, on six continents. In 2016, the Denver Art Museum was among 21 institutions to receive one of these prestigious grants. As a result of this generous support, the conservation and New World curatorial departments will be able to undertake the full scope of historical and technical research as well as the conservation treatment of a very important painting from the museum's Spanish Colonial collection.
The Denver Art Museum is honored to announce that Anna and John J. Sie have pledged $12 million to support the North Building revitalization project.