By Matt Leingang
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Cherri Ann Forrest, a local artist, studies one of the water colors in the "To Observe and Imagine" exhibition that was in the Fifth Third Bank Special Exhibitions Gallery. The Cincinnati Enquirer/TONY JONES

The public got its first look Saturday at the newly renovated and expanded Taft Museum of Art, an event that attracted the serious art crowd as well as people eager to reconnect with one of downtown Cincinnati's most treasured cultural institutions.

The museum, housed in the former Charles Phelps Taft mansion on Pike Street, opened its doors free of charge after a 21/2-year, $22.3 million renovation.

Mayor Charlie Luken, standing under a canopy because of a light rain, marked the occasion with a ribbon cutting.

"What a great gift to Cincinnati," Luken told the crowd, which included members of the museum's trustees, who raised the money for the renovation. "To have this kind of institution here speaks volumes about the future of the city."

TAFT COVERAGE

• Finally, we all can see the Taft Museum of Art • Taft renovation special section

Visitors will see several major additions, including a bigger garden, a 70-car parking garage and a new three-story wing, which allows the Taft to continue its comprehensive education program and to arrange for larger traveling exhibitions.

"It's beautiful," said Michael Goroff, 36, of Hyde Park.

Goroff and his wife, Jenny Necheles, were among Saturday's visitors. They moved to Cincinnati from Chicago last year.

"I had heard about the museum's reputation for British and American master paintings, and I was eager to see it," Goroff said. "This is going to give people another reason to come downtown, something other than baseball and football."

Those who remembered what the museum was like before the renovation said they were impressed with the house's new paint, carpet and draperies. And even though the art collection remains mostly unchanged, a new lighting system brings out new details.

"It's like seeing these paintings again for the first time," said Daniel Goepper of Walnut Hills.

Comments like that made John F. Stevenson proud. Stevenson, a Hyde Park resident, is one of many docents who work at the museum. Docents act as guides for walk-in visitors and conduct a variety of educational programs.

"Finally, these paintings can be seen in their proper setting," Stevenson said. "Many visitors used to come up to me and say, 'Oh, what wonderful works of art. If only I could see them.' Now the educational experience you get here is so much better."

E-mail mleingang@enquirer.com