A pioneering building and approach to displaying art
The Sainsbury Centre opened in 1978 following a significant donation of 20th-century art and ethnographic artifacts by Sir Robert Sainsbury and his wife, Lady Lisa Sainsbury. It became one of the first museums in the world to display art from across the globe and from diverse time periods equally and collectively. Today the collection spans 5,000 years, including Tang Dynasty objects, medieval European works and Francis Bacon paintings. Located on the University of East Anglia (UEA) campus in Norwich, England, the building was one of the first major public works by the three-time Stirling Prize winner Norman Foster, and is considered among his greatest achievements. In 2023, a new executive director, Jago Cooper, announced the Sainsbury Centre would be the first museum in the world to formally recognise art as “alive,” to reimagine how people interact with its collections. Self-guided and emotional responses are encouraged, including the ability to hug Henry Moore’s 1932 “Mother and Child” sculpture, as the artist originally intended.
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