The new section isn’t the only reason to get excited about what’s happening at the VMFA. The whole place underwent an extensive modernization and improvement effort. When it reopens, the museum will join an exclusive sorority of 10 comprehensive museums in the country; that is “encyclopedic” places that cover the history of our creative spirits.

Museum director Alex Nyerges showed us images of his institution’s progress, beginning in 1936 — at the bottom of the Great Depression — when the English Renaissance-style initial section sitting by its lonesome on the bare plot of ground resembled a Boulevard mansion.

Its architects were Peebles & Ferguson of Portsmouth; John Kevan Peebles’ other Richmond commissions included the wings of the State Capitol, the Hotel Richmond (now the Ninth Street Office Building), and Monument Avenue’s Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church.

Other additions followed; the fourth, the West Wing, designed by New York City’s Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates, opened in December 1985. Its contents included the Mellon collections, with French Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and British sporting art, and the Sydney and Frances Lewis Contemporary art collections; plus the Lewises' world-class collections of Art Nouveau and Art Deco furniture, glass and other decorative arts.

Some of the latter pieces were reintroduced to us after having not seen them in years, now resplendently displayed and better lit and arranged than ever. All those Tiffany lamps are arrayed like divas at a star-spangled once-in-a-lifetime Grammy Awards event.

The McGlothin wing, designed by London-based Rick Mather Archiects, is going to be spectacular. Mather partnered with Richmond’s SMBW, which is responsible for The University of Virginia School of Architecture and Luck Stone’s Goochland headquarters.

Mather just completed an addition to the Ashmolean at Oxford, Britain’s oldest public museum, perhaps one of the world’s first (opened 1683). It’s — in a word — “stunning.”

Nyerges pointed out that as beautiful as the Ashmolean’s new section is (he went to see it), the VMFA’s will have greater visibility. The new portion in Oxford was dropped into the older one; ours is its own thing, with nothing surrounding it.

Patrons inside will be able to see out, and passersby on Boulevard will see in, all the way through the glass-enclosed atrium. It’s dramatic and compelling, even unfinished.

Take a gander at the upcoming exhibitions. The museum is returning with a big bang, featuring art ranging from German Expressionist pieces from the Fischer Collection (May 1, 2010-July 18, 2010) and Matisse, Picasso and Modern Art in Paris (May 1, 2010-July 25, 2010) to Darkroom: Photography and New Media from South Africa since 1950 (Aug. 21, 2010-Oct. 31, 2010) and work by photographer Sally Mann (Dec. 11, 2010-March 7, 2011).

And this is just the beginning. The effect this’ll have can only be imagined; expect national and international attention to be focused on us for some of these shows; those quiet art segments on CBS Sunday Morning, for example.

I’m looking forward to having a wee dram at the Best Café and walking around the sculpture garden.

It’ll be great to have our old friends back and to meet new ones.