RALEIGH -- As the doors of the newly renovated N.C. Museum of Art swung open Friday, one elderly guest removed his glasses and squinted into the window of an adobe church painted by Georgia O'Keeffe, looking as though he expected to see a friend inside.
Around the corner, another man gawked at the finery painted on a portrait of Cardinal Muzio Gallo and remarked: "Look at the lace on him! Boggles my mind."
By 10 a.m. Friday, the two men and about 500 other art-hungry patrons were basking in the natural light of the museum's $86 million expansion. They marveled at how the black of a Rodin sculpture plays off the stark white walls, or how the Nigerian Iroko-wood sculptures were so tall they needed trusses to hold them up.
"This will become nationally known," said Fred Ullman of Raleigh. "This is not a small museum anymore."
The welcoming Friday was just a sneak peek for members, but the museum's big opening weekend extends through Sunday.
At the ceremony, Gov. Bev Perdue noted that the state's first art museum was created downtown in 1947, when North Carolina ranked among the poorest states. Now, with the 127,000-square-foot expansion off Blue Ridge Road drawing worldwide praise, times have changed.
"This is a big day," Perdue said. "We are no longer rural. We are no longer poor. We are a sophisticated state made up of almost 10 million people who appreciate both sides of the brain."
To the right of her lectern, the museum showed off a 10-foot cube covered with 362 photographs from North Carolina life: A young girl jumped in the air in front of Jockey's Ridge State Park. A boy slid down the Sliding Rock waterfall. Doc Watson picked his guitar. Recently departed downtown Raleigh icon Russell "Sho Nuff" Lee showed off his leather and leopard-spotted outfit.
"Oh, I love the colors," said Jolene Edwards, who recalled being a docent at the museum downtown.
Guests couldn't help but notice the three giant pieces made by Spanish sculptor Jaume Plensa, whose art was once slated for Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh. That project, pulled together by museum director Larry Wheeler, got shooed away when city fathers feared the art would interrupt the downtown view.
As they entered the museum Friday, guests also snickered at the not-so-subtle gesture: Here, the Plensa works are the first thing you see when you walk in the door.
