Measuring Infinity: José de Rivera's Smithsonian Sculpture on the National Mall

Abstract Large works of public sculpture outside our museum doors reveal aspects of a museum's self‐image. They beckon, reassure, or confront visitors with new ideas about what might lurk inside. Whether off‐the‐shelf or commissions by well‐known sculptors, these pieces matter. They are the noses on our museum faces. In this essay, one museum curator reflects on the layered meanings of his museum's entry art — meanings that, he argues, have the potential to evolve over time.