Carol Vogel previews the new Whitney:

Now, 20,500 square feet on the sixth and seventh floors has been dedicated to its holdings, which have grown from 2,000 works 49 years ago to 22,000 works — paintings, sculptures, works-on-paper, photographs, films, videos and installations — today.

Although the Whitney calls itself a museum of American art, for most of its life it has never had a concrete definition of just what that means. Every inch of new gallery space will be devoted to searching for the soul of American art, using its collection in the most in-depth presentation the museum has ever assembled.

The Whitney Museum, Soon to Open Its New Home, Searches for American Identity  (NYTimes.com)