Things are in a state of flux at the St. Louis Art Museum, with galleries closing and objects being shifted into "Collections Highlights Galleries" because of the construction demands of the museum's building expansion.

Special exhibits are still being mounted, however, with four more to come this year and one announced for 2011.

You'll find the Pre-Columbian, Egyptian and African highlights on the lower level, in galleries 100, 130 and 130W, and 103, respectively, while highlights of the European, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collections are now to be found on the main level, in galleries 222 and 218.

Details, from SLAM's press release, are below:

Collection Highlights Galleries

In preparation for the Museum’s expansion, several galleries have been closed, and highlights of the Museum’s collection have been reinstalled. Collection highlights were carefully chosen by the Museum’s curators in anticipation of the expansion project.

African

Highlights of the Museum’s African collection have been reinstalled on the Lower Level in Gallery 103. This reinstallation includes a selection of the most significant objects from the Museum’s collection of African art, selected and curated by William C. Siegmann, consulting curator of African art.

Egyptian

In the Egyptian galleries, relocated on the Lower Level to Galleries 130 and 130W, highlights include three mummy cases—Henut-wedjebu and Pet-menekh, from the collection of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis, and the Museum’s own Mummy Case of Amen-Nestawy-Nakht. The newly acquired Vizier, a seated official of the early second millennium B.C., and the Mummy Mask of the Lady Ka-nefer-nefer are also on view. Other important objects and visitor favorites are the tomb sculpture of a Hippopotamus and the Canopic Jars for the Royal Scribe Khera.

European

Thirty-two objects from the Museum’s collection of European Art to 1800 have been relocated on the Main Level to Gallery 222. The objects are divided into three groupings: Late Medieval/Early Renaissance, 16th–17th century and 18th century. Emphasizing highlights from the collection and featuring many objects from the Museum’s Handbook, the gallery presentation includes several artworks of particular interest, such as Joseph Wright of Derby’s Lake with Castle on a Hill, Giovanni Paolo Panini’s Interior of St. Peter’s, Rome, Melchior Barthel’s Bust of a Black Man, Titian’s Ecce Homo and Bartolomeo Manfredi’s Apollo and Marsyas.

Impressionist and Post-Impressionist

Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterworks have been relocated on the Main Level to Gallery 218. Major highlights include Claude Monet’s Water Lilies, Edgar Degas’ The Milliners, Vincent van Gogh’s Stairway at Auvers and Factories at Asnières and Paul Cézanne’s Bathers. These works attest to the revolutionary impact of the Impressionists, an independent group of young artists who rebelled against the official art establishment in the 1870s and 1880s. They forged a new style with modern life as the primary focus of their subject matter, particularly everyday life scenes, portraits and landscape.

Pre-Columbian

Pre-Columbian highlights have been relocated on the Lower Level to Gallery 100. This installation showcases masterpieces from ancient North America, Mesoamerica and the Andes. Most of the collection was donated by Morton D. May, but the reinstallation also includes long-term loans from the Joe and Elaine Kinker Collection and the Saint Louis Science Center that augment the collection’s Mississippian objects. Pre-Columbian highlights include the Maya Ballgame Vessel, several Mimbres vessels, a Teotihuacan Mural Fragment and a Chimú Disc.

Opening Soon

Currents 104: Bruce Yonemoto Opens April 9, 2010

The Mourners: Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy Opens June 20, 2010

Bill Viola: Visitation Opens June 20, 2010

Joe Jones: Painter of the American Scene Opens October 10, 2010

2011 Exhibitions

Fiery Pool: The Maya and The Mythic Sea Opens February 13, 2011