Anne Hawley, Director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, says her slogan is 'Elitism for all.' She believes the public is hungry for 'real meaning,' which the Gardner translates into scholarly art shows.

Now, Hawley is going full steam ahead with ambitious (and controversial) plans to expand the museum with a $114 million new building designed by Genoese architect Renzo Piano.

Among her obligatory remarks that the expansion be "a work of art unto itself" and fit with the historic building, Hawley says she had to persuade Piano to build a grand staircase. This classic architectural element will serve as a gathering place in the museum.

The Gardner may have some competition for, or overlapping of, visitors with the Museum of Fine Art's opening of a new Art of the Americas Wing in November.