SAM reopens

The Seattle Art Museum is a whole lot roomier, having just completed a three-year, $86 million expansion that added a brand-new building and more gallery space.

With all of that extra room and a 75th anniversary coming up next year, the timing is right for the museum’s latest exhibition, which features about 200 pieces from top collectors in the Pacific Northwest. About half of these will remain in the museum’s permanent collection after the exhibit closes.

“There is a huge energy in art collecting in Seattle,” says museum director Mimi Gates, “and now you can see it in the museum.”

Culled from the holdings of more than 20 private collections, the exhibition showcases modern and contemporary works by such artists as Georgia O’Keeffe, Jasper Johns, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline and Willem de Kooning, as well as Native American, African, Oceanic and Asian art.

The expansion itself also has artistic flair. The new building’s exterior of stainless-steel “shutters” diffuses natural light, so museum-goers can view the art in light-filled galleries against a backdrop of the city and Elliott Bay.

Among the highlights:

“The new Porcelain Room displays some 1,000 European and Asian porcelains, arranged by color.

“Renowned Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang’s “Inopportune: Stage One,” the first installation to hang in the new, 5,000-square-foot Brotman Forum, depicts nine Ford Tauruses that seem to randomly hurl themselves around vibrant lighting. Gates says it could be interpreted as “a traffic jam, a celebration … or a dream of tumbling through space.”

“Constantin Brancusi’s 1926 masterpiece “Bird in Space” is one in a series of works by the Romanian sculptor portraying a soaring bird without wings or feathers.

Also make time to visit the museum’s new Olympic Sculpture Park (2901 Western Ave., 206-654-3100), which opened in January. The nine-acre downtown waterfront park is a mile north of the museum’s expansion and features works by Richard Serra, Alexander Calder, Roy McMakin, Louise Bourgeois and many others. Admission is free.

Taste (1300 First Ave., 206-903-5291), the museum’s new restaurant, prides itself on using local ingredients. Lunch dishes run from $5 to $12; dinner entrees cost $10 to $30.

For lodging, the historic Mayflower Park Hotel (405 Olive Way, 800-426-5100, www.mayflowerpark.com) offers a package called “Sam I Am” from Saturday through June 30; the deal includes two tickets to the museum and valet parking. Nightly rates range from $249 to $269 double.

The Grand Hyatt (721 Pine St., 206-774-1234, www.grandseattle.hyatt.com), about seven blocks north of SAM, is offering museum visitors a 15 percent discount on standard rooms (use the group/corporate code 18717). Rates run $200 to $300 double.