The Rose Art Museum, founded in 1961, is a part of Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, US. Named after benefactors Edward and Bertha Rose, it offers temporary exhibitions, and it displays and houses works of art from the permanent collection of 9,000 objects. The museum has one of the largest collections of modern and contemporary art in New England. Since its inauguration, the Rose Art Museum has been recognized for its avant-garde and forward-thinking approach to modern and contemporary art. Architecture The Rose Art Museum is a small and simple geometric structure designed by the firm Harrison & Abramovitz. Its initial 1961 design contained of exhibition space, a modest size. The building had no freight elevator, and the doors were too small for large works of art. The collection soon outgrew the building, so Harrison & Abramovitz designed an expansion, completed in April 1974 at a cost of $500,000. , with approximately of exhibition space in three galleries, the Rose Art Museum offers 9-12 exhibitions a year, most of which are organized by the Rose Art Museum curatorial team. In front of the museum stands Light of Reason by Chris Burden. The sculpture, commissioned by the university and installed in 2014, consists of three rows of 24 Victorian lamp posts which point away from the museum's entrance. The sculpture serves as a gateway and outdoor event space, and has become a campus landmark. History Origin and early years Before Brandeis graduated its first class in 1951, the university had already in its possession more than 300 paintings, including works by Stuart Davis, Fernand Léger, Milton Avery, and George Grosz. Sam Hunter, the first director of the Rose Art Museum, came to Brandeis from the Museum of Modern Art. With a grant of $50,000 from collectors Leon Mnuchin and his wife, Harriet Gevirtz-Mnuchin, he launched a collection with iconic works by Johns, Rauschenberg, Warhol, Willem de Kooning, and several others, a total of 21 works with a ceiling of $5,000 for any one piece bought using the grant. The museum’s exhibition and cultural programming have since centered on leading contemporary artists, often giving these artists their first museum exhibitions: Frank Stella, Kiki Smith, Nam June Paik, and Dana Schutz among them. The Rose Art Museum has a leading collection of modern and contemporary art in New England. The New York Times took notice of important exhibitions at the museum, praising an