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

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) has confirmed that its new Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery will open on 25 September 2027. This five-storey addition represents a C$100 million (approximately $73.4 million AUD) investment and will feature around 400 modern and contemporary artworks.

The expansion was designed by a team of architectural firms: Toronto-based Diamond Schmitt, New York’s Selldorf Architects, and Two Row Architect from Ontario. The new 40,000-square-foot wing overlooks downtown Toronto’s Grange Park and increases the AGO’s display space by about 30%. It includes 5,000 square feet of gallery space with ceilings reaching 23 feet high.

The AGO’s collection of modern and contemporary art has grown significantly in the past decade, expanding by approximately 18,000 pieces. Recent notable acquisitions include over 200 photographs by Peter Hujar and more than 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 gallery also holds the largest public collection of Henry Moore’s work outside the UK. Two years ago, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Henry Moore Sculpture Centre, the city of Toronto declared 13 November as Henry Moore Day.

The project was initiated by a lead gift of C$35 million from Dani Reiss, an art collector and CEO of Canada Goose. The Reiss Gallery is now fully funded, with support from a community of donors and the governments of Ontario and Canada. The federal government has expressed pride in supporting this sustainable, state-of-the-art gallery, which is intended to host significant modern and contemporary art for future generations.

This expansion is a major development for the AGO, enhancing its ability to display a global collection and reinforcing Toronto’s presence in the international art community.