Whether you're looking for a classic American landscape, an Italian Botticelli fresco or a striking sculpture, the Columbia Museum of Art has a large, diverse collection.
On Jan. 17, the museum will officially reopen its upstairs galleries as part of its 75th anniversary celebration. These spaces hold the majority of the museum’s permanent collection. The unveiling comes after months of renovations, moving from a set of rooms with themes, like mythology or identity, to a set of four distinct categories: European, American, modern and contemporary, and Asian art.
Senior curator Michael Neumeister manages the collections and oversaw the artistic vision of the new layout. Neumeister said the museum has a responsibility to be welcoming to audiences of all backgrounds since it is often the first art museum young South Carolinians will visit.
Neumeister said he hopes visitors appreciate the museum’s additions just as much as its old staples.
“About a third of these works have either never been on view or have not been on view in decades,” Neumeister said. “I’m really hoping it’s a balance between the stuff that’s really familiar and the stuff that’s totally new.”
Neumeister highlighted the growth of the Asian collection and said the new space is the largest the museum has ever dedicated to it. He said working on the collection and exposing local visitors to distinct, diverse foreign cultures is an important goal for museum leadership.
“As the only international art museum (in South Carolina), it’s incumbent on us to create as much cross-cultural dialog as we can,” Neumeister said. “We really wanted to amplify it.”
In addition to educating South Carolinians about international art, Neumeister said showing what’s possible to young local artists was a key goal when building the new collections.
“It’s part of the mission. We want to inspire people to make art too,” Neumeister said. “To hopefully see yourself or the possibility of what you can be.”
A “salon hang” style gallery in the soon-to-be reopened second-floor galleries of the Columbia Museum of Art at 1515 Main Street, Columbia, South Carolina on Jan. 14, 2026. This gallery features paintings from all different places and eras the art museum has art from.
Helping to further that aim, the museum will also feature three rotating spaces dedicated to different artists with ties to South Carolina, both historical and contemporary.
One of the artists selected for the first group of the project was painter and sculptor Jasper Johns, who grew up in the state and attended USC for three semesters. Neumeister said Johns' significance to both art history and the CMA’s history were clear reasons to highlight his work.
“Arguably the most important post-war artist and who actually had direct ties with the Columbia Museum of Art in the 1950s,” Neumeister said. “He worked as a curator of the Fort Jackson Gallery, which was in the back of the CMA’s original building.”
The second is Winston Wingo, an artist and accomplished educator known for his metal sculptures that combine futurism and traditional African culture. Winston is based in Spartanburg and has taught at three universities.
The third and final artist is photographer Richard Samuel Roberts. Roberts captured scenes of Columbia in the 1920s and '30s. Neumeister said Roberts' works are already regularly displayed at the CMA, making the feature a natural fit.
Along with the new art, executive director Della Watkins said the museum completed a comprehensive lighting project, providing an overdue upgrade from its previous 25-year-old system.
Watkins said the lighting will enhance the entire collection, allowing visitors to experience the art in a new way.
“It’s the cleanest, sharpest, brightest light,” Watkins said. “The art is just singing.”
Neumeister said that while the reopening is an important moment for the CMA, the museum is driven to continuously innovate and improve.
“The CMA collection is not static,” Neumeister said. “We want to gesture to future possibilities and opportunities in collecting. By no means is this the period on this sentence.”
Associate director of communications Milena Engh said the staff has worked hard to make the new galleries an exciting, fulfilling experience, and she hopes it feels like a gift to locals.
“This collection was largely built by the community, and it’s for the community,” Engh said. “There’s going to be old favorites, new stuff to love, and I’m just so happy it’s time for the community to come in.
The galleries will initially reopen to the public at 10 a.m. on Saturday. Free admission will be offered on Monday, Jan. 19, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, from noon to 5 p.m. More information about the Columbia Museum of Art can be found on its website.