SFMOMA showcases $610 million expansion

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art reopened Saturday after a three-year, $610 million expansion that aimed to merge an old and a new 10-story structure, museum officials said.

Before a ribbon cutting at 9:45 a.m., ribbon-cutting festivities begin at 8:30 a.m. at the museum at 151 Third St. The activities include entertainment by musicians, street performers and chalk artists.

Museum leaders and civic officials will speak to the public at 9:15 a.m. at a stage on Howard Street in the front of the museum.

At 11 a.m. the museum opens for free to 5,000 pre-ticketed visitors. Tickets for the reopening are sold out, but tickets for Sunday and future days are available online, museum officials said.

Visitors with tickets are encouraged to arrive 30 minutes before their scheduled time.

With the expansion, the gallery space has nearly tripled and includes the debut of the Pritzker Center for Photography, which will continue to make photography a centerpiece of the museum, according to museum officials.

The expansion includes almost 170,000 square feet of new and renewed indoor and outdoor galleries Access to 45,000 square feet of ground-floor gallery space will be free to everyone every day and admission will be free each day for visitors 18 years old and younger, museum officials said.