The lifespan of Denver’s Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art has at times seemed like one ongoing existential crisis. But the beloved downtown art salon gets a new lease on life when it reopens to the public on Friday.

When the $22 million building opened in 2018, it incorporated Vance Kirkland’s original 150-ton brick studio, which had been moved intact by truck from Capitol Hill to 1201 Bannock St. in the Golden Triangle. Then came the pandemic. Then, on Feb. 15, came a catastrophic flood when a frozen pipe burst during the polar vortex.

Fortunately, the building itself sustained most of the damage. Quick-acting staff eventually moved about 4,000 art pieces out of harm’s way. Of the more than 30,000 works in the museum’s collection, only a handful were permanently damaged. Most of the artwork that got wet has been restored and is being redisplayed. Repairs to all three floors have restored the museum to pre-flood condition.

The museum reopens Friday with a temporary exhibition called “Truth, Beauty and Power: Christopher Dresser and The Aesthetic Movement,” featuring a rare, five-legged chair recently attributed to British designer Christopher Dresser. The chair has been on display at the Kirkland since May 2018 but it was only in March that new research by author Harry Lyons and the Dorman Memorial Museum in Middlesbrough, U.K., attributed the chair as Dresser’s work.

“The chair was always intriguing, lovely and extraordinarily good design, and is only enhanced by this connection to one of the central designers of the era,” said Renée Albiston, associate museum director at Kirkland Museum.

In 1873, Dresser wrote about five-legged chairs: “There is no reason whatever why a chair should have four legs. If three would be better, or five, or any other number, let us use what would be best.”

The reopening also includes a newly displayed 1971 Vance Kirkland painting called “Four Suns in Space.” The museum’s pioneering namesake, who died after a 55-year career in 1981, was among the most important Colorado and regional painters of the 20th century. Kirkland created about 1,200 paintings spanning five painting periods and more than 30 series.

Denver Gazette contributing arts columnist John Moore is an award-winning journalist who was named one of the 10 most influential theater critics by American Theatre Magazine. He is now producing independent journalism as part of his own company, Moore Media.

Kirkland Museum Reopening

● 1201 Bannock St.

● Reopening Friday, Aug. 27

● Hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; noon to 5 p.m. Sunday