After over two months of preliminary preparations, construction at the Yale University Art Gallery is finally visible from Chapel Street. Fences and tarp were put up along the side of the Louis Kahn building — the Gallery’s current home — and the adjacent Swartwout building last week, gallery officials said on Sunday.

The construction, which began in October, is part of an extensive renovation and expansion project that will connect the Kahn building to the Swartwout Building and Street Hall, making the gallery cross High Street and greatly increasing exhibition space. The project was announced in October 2008 but was put on hold due to the University-wide freeze on construction projects following the economic downturn.

In September 2009, gallery director Jock Reynolds announced that he had raised the $76 million necessary to continue the renovation. The project will be completed in 2012.