We can’t wait to welcome you back!
The Yale Center for British Art reopens to the public on March 29, 2025, following a two-year closure for a major conservation project. Celebrate our reopening and join us for an exciting weekend of activities and art.
In a New Light: Five Centuries of British Art
This installation sheds light on the surprising and complicated history of British art, bringing into focus the people and cultures that produced these artworks. From the sixteenth century to the present, Britain has attracted artists from all over the world, with their outputs as diverse as their origins.
J. M. W. Turner: Romance and Reality
Romance and Reality marks the 250th anniversary of Turner’s birth and offers a rare opportunity to explore the incredible range of Turner’s works in the Center’s collection, the largest holdings outside the United Kingdom. The collection includes nearly three thousand works by and after the artist, including fourteen oil paintings, along with hundreds of drawings, prints, and watercolors.
Tracey Emin: I Loved You Until The Morning
I Loved You Until The Morning is the first major museum exhibition of her work in North America. The display foregrounds Emin’s practice as a painter, emphasizing her primary medium over the last two decades.
Related Programs
Please check our calendar for the complete list of our events and programs.
Reopening Weekend
Saturday, March 29, 10 am to 5 pm
Sunday, March 30, 11 am to 5 pm
Exhibition Opening Lecture: Revealing J. M. W. Turner at the Yale Center for British Art
Wednesday, April 23, 5:30–6:30 pm, Lecture Hall and Livestream
Artist Talk: Tracey Emin
Thursday, April 3, 12 pm ET, Lecture Hall and Livestream
Roof and skylight domes, Yale Center for British Art, photo by Richard Caspole
About the Building Conservation Project
During the building conservation project, the museum carried out crucial conservation work to preserve Louis I. Kahn’s architectural masterpiece for future generations, aiming to replace many of the original building materials, taking advantage of new advances in technology since the 1970s while preserving the aesthetic qualities of Kahn’s design.
Exterior improvements include a new liquid membrane roof and the replacement of the 224 original acrylic skylights with more resilient polycarbonate domes that maintain Kahn’s iconic design while improving durability, weather resistance, and energy efficiency.
Additionally, the museum installed new laylight cassettes that were fabricated to match the original design. Positioned below the skylight domes, the cassettes diffuse sunlight entering the gallery space, protecting the collection while creating an environment for viewing works of art that is responsive to the changing nature of daylight. Following thorough analysis, the Center decided to incorporate a removable light-reducing film into the cassette systems. The film will reduce light exposure levels to better align with modern art conservation standards while remaining true to Kahn’s vision for the aesthetic quality and variation of daylight inside the building.
The Center also invested in a more energy-efficient lighting system, made possible in part by generous funding from the Frankenthaler Climate Initiative. The original halogen lighting system has been converted to LED, significantly reducing energy consumption and ensuring a more sustainable future for the museum. This conversion included replacing more than 6,500 linear feet of track throughout the building and retrofitting more than 600 fixtures. New lights were carefully selected to match the design of the original fixtures.