The next time you think that Milwaukee doesn't owe a debt of gratitude to the Milwaukee Art Museum and Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, consider these words, which ran in last Sunday's New York Times.

Ted Loos interviewed MAM curator Laurie Winters for an article about the new Biedermeier show and the way it illustrates how regional art museums like our own is having to seek out new partnerships and new ways to mount shows.

Noting Winters' scrappy approach to partnering with Vienna's Albertina Museum and its director Klaus Albrecht Schröder, Loos wrote:

"During her Vienna meeting, Ms. Winters learned that she got in the door largely because Mr. Schröder had heard of the Milwaukee Art Museum, but not because of its substantial collections. 'It was really the Calatrava addition that put us on the map in Europe,' she said, referring to the architect Santiago Calatrava's soaring structure, completed in 2001, which is topped by louvers that open and close. 'Klaus said, "I know the building and I think it's fabulous." He knew that the wings flapped.'"

Later in the story, Loos describes a partnership between the Louvre and Atlanta's High Museum and points out that the Louvre will also host Winters' Biedermeier exhibit -- which includes works from the Albertina, where the show procedes after closing in Milwaukee.

"'Ten years ago, it was impossible for us to work with a city like Milwaukee,' (Louvre president and director Henri) Loyrette said, adding that the Calatrava addition helped him see the Milwaukee Art Museum in a new light."

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