--- title: Tate Modern Museum Extension London Opens: More Art by Women description: The Tate Modern extension opened its doors Friday in London to reveal galleries filled with more art by women. canonical: https://time.com/4373650/new-tate-modern-art-women/ author: Julia Zorthian article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-17T21:01:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:57:42.711Z og:title: The New Tate Modern Museum Wing Makes Room for Art by Women og:description: The extension opened Friday, giving female and international artists more space og:url: https://time.com/4373650/new-tate-modern-art-women/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56cbd8f91fac18c6/698898630a4a22c3599ca211/new-tate-modern-room-for-women-international-artists.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: new tate modern room for women international artists.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The New Tate Modern Museum Wing Makes Room for Art by Women twitter:description: The extension opened Friday, giving female and international artists more space twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56cbd8f91fac18c6/698898630a4a22c3599ca211/new-tate-modern-room-for-women-international-artists.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The New Tate Modern Museum Wing Makes Room for Art by Women  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Jun 17, 2016 9:01 PM UTC  The Tate Modern's new Switch House building by architects Herzog & de Meuron on June 14, 2016 in London. The Tate Modern's new Switch House building by architects Herzog & de Meuron on June 14, 2016 in London.Jack Taylor—Getty Images  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Jun 17, 2016 9:01 PM UTC The [Tate Modern](http://content.time.com/time/travel/cityguide/article/0,31489,1846986%5F1846948%5F1846591,00.html) extension [opened its doors Friday](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/jun/14/new-tate-modern-switch-house-more-women-international-macaws) in London to reveal galleries filled with more art by women. The museum has touted the opening of the Switch House addition as a renewal for the entire modern art gallery because the collection has more work from international and female artists, who are generally underrepresented in museum collections. The 12-year expansion project added [60% more gallery space](http://www.tate.org.uk/about/press-office/press-releases/new-tate-modern-opens-on-17-june-2016) to the modern art museum in the form of a [10-story “twisted pyramid” building](http://www.dezeen.com/2016/05/25/switch-house-tate-modern-herzog-de-meuron-iwan-baan-images-london-uk/) by architects Herzog & de Meuron. “Today we open not just an extension but genuinely a new Tate Modern with a new configuration, new facilities, new learning spaces and a new view of the world as it has been over the last 120 years or so,” [Tate director Nicholas Serota said in remarks reported by the _Guardian_](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/jun/14/new-tate-modern-switch-house-more-women-international-macaws). The museum added the extension to the Tate Modern’s original building, a converted brick power station that opened in 2000, because the museum was attracting [roughly five million visitors per year](http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/17/arts/tate-modern-extension-switch-house/) when it had only expected 2 million. At the time, women made up 17% of the artists in the collection. In the new Switch House, female artists make up 36% of the total—with [over half the solo artist rooms](http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-36517422) dedicated to females. Tate Modern is also reopening with greater international representation, housing works from about 50 countries. The museum, for example, has promoted its acquisition of the striking work “Tree” by prominent Chinese artist Ai Weiwei: Though female artists have become more prominent within the field in the years since Tate Modern first opened, director Frances Morris said they still don’t get enough wall space in Tate Modern or galleries across the world. “You can rewrite history but you can’t reinvent it,” [Morris said](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/jun/14/new-tate-modern-switch-house-more-women-international-macaws). “We are highlighting the great contributions of women but there is an imbalance in the history.” \[[_The Guardian_](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/jun/14/new-tate-modern-switch-house-more-women-international-macaws)_\]_ > [](https://twitter.com/Tate/status/743740335981899776) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4373650/new-tate-modern-art-women/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4373650/new-tate-modern-art-women/"},"headline":"The New Tate Modern Museum Wing Makes Room for Art by Women","datePublished":"2016-06-17T21:01:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:57:42.711Z","description":"The extension opened Friday, giving female and international artists more space","url":"https://time.com/4373650/new-tate-modern-art-women/","keywords":["Living","Fine Art","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56cbd8f91fac18c6/698898630a4a22c3599ca211/new-tate-modern-room-for-women-international-artists.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt56cbd8f91fac18c6/698898630a4a22c3599ca211/new-tate-modern-room-for-women-international-artists.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"new tate modern room for women international artists.jpg","caption":"new tate modern room for women international artists.jpg","creditText":"Jack Taylor—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4373650/new-tate-modern-art-women/","name":"The New Tate Modern Museum Wing Makes Room for Art by Women"}}]}] ```