The revamped Art Gallery of Ontario opened to the public yesterday.

And its designer, renowned architect and Toronto native Frank Gehry, is confident it will make Canada proud.

Gehry, who lives in Los Angeles, was in Toronto for a news conference and said the building and its contents will be a "big deal for future generations."

Gehry -- whose designs include the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain -- was recruited eight years ago.

The new AGO includes extensive use of wood, as well as glass and skylights to allow in natural light. The transformation cost $276 million.

The late press baron Kenneth Thomson contributed 2,000 artworks, including the famous Peter Paul Rubens' painting The Massacre of the Innocents. The Thomson family donated $100 million to the redesign.