Lichtenstein on the Beach

How a faded resort transformed itself into a global art destination.

(Photo: Wolfgang Volz/Laif/Redux)

1983
Christo and Jeanne-Claude surround eleven Biscayne Bay islands with six and a half million square feet of pink fabric.

(Photo: Courtesy of Art Center/South Florida)

1984
Stylish Miami Vice premieres. The South Florida Art Center opens in the heart of crime-ridden South Beach, offering subsidized studios to local artists.

1992
South Beach attracts Gianni Versace, Roy Lichtenstein, Kenny Scharf, Jack Pierson, and Felix Gonzalez-Torres.

(Photo: Courtesy of Rubell Family Collection)

1993
New Yorkers Mera and Don Rubell relocate to Miami and purchase a 45,000-square-foot former DEA warehouse to house their collection.

(Photo: Teresa Diehl/Courtesy of Brook Dorsch Gallery)

2001
The first year of the Art Basel fair is canceled after 9/11, but the Wynwood gallery area begins to take off, with Locust Projects and the Dorsch Gallery.

(Photo: Courtesy of Herzog & De Meuron)

2006
Local grandees raid MoMA to hire curator Terry Riley to head up the new, $220 million Herzog & de Meuron–designed Miami Art Museum.

(Photo: Ludwig Rauch/Courtesy of Art Basel Miami Beach)

2007
Art Basel draws 43,000 visitors, 1,600 journalists, 24 satellite fairs, and general debauchery. Wynwood is home to nearly 70 art spaces.

Related:

• Archive: “Art Features”
• Table of Contents: May 5, 2008 issue of New York | Subscribe!