Art Gallery of Ontario Sets Opening Date for $73M Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Wing

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) has set 25 September 2027 as the opening date for its new Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery. This five-storey addition represents a C$100 million investment and will display approximately 400 works of modern and contemporary art. The project is fully funded through contributions from private donors, including a lead gift from Dani Reiss, and support from the governments of Ontario and Canada.

The new wing was designed by a team of architectural firms: Diamond Schmitt from Toronto, Selldorf Architects from New York, and Two Row Architect based in Ohsweken, Ontario. The expansion adds 40,000 square feet of space overlooking downtown Toronto’s Grange Park, increasing the AGO’s display area by about 30%. The new gallery includes 5,000 square feet of exhibition space with ceilings reaching 23 feet in height.

The AGO’s collection of modern and contemporary art has grown by around 18,000 pieces over the past decade, creating a need for additional display space. Recent acquisitions include more than 200 photographs by Peter Hujar and over 450 works from the late collectors Carol and Morton Rapp, featuring artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg, Kara Walker, Rachel Whiteread, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Lee Bontecou, and David Hockney.

The AGO also holds the largest public collection of Henry Moore’s work outside the United Kingdom. Two years ago, to mark the 50th anniversary of the gallery’s Henry Moore Sculpture Centre, the city of Toronto declared 13 November as Henry Moore Day.

The project was initiated by a C$35 million lead gift from Dani Reiss, an art collector and CEO of Canada Goose. The gallery’s funding was completed with support from a community of donors and the governments of Ontario and Canada.

Federal support was highlighted by the minister of housing and infrastructure, who emphasized the gallery’s sustainable and state-of-the-art design. The new wing is intended to showcase the AGO’s evolving collection and reinforce Toronto and Canada’s position in the global art community.