Just in time for the Democratic National Convention, the Denver Art Museum has made the sweeping changes promised this past spring in the modern and contemporary work installed in the Hamilton Building.

That would be curator Christoph Heinrich's plan to focus on works that refer to the human figure. A handful of pieces from the Hamilton's 2006 opening remain on view, but Heinrich has changed the look and feel of these dramatic galleries.

That's the best way to sum up "Focus: The Figure," the 90- plus pieces that Heinrich says will remain in place for up to two years.

After reviewing the museum's collection, Heinrich divided works into thematic areas, not the chronological intent that previously divided floors three and four.

Visitors will get some guidance from a figural wall text - a human body labeled like a cookbook meat chart - that notes two key themes in the installation: politics and updated views of traditional form. From there flow topics such as gender issues, race, mutilation, idealization and so on.

It's a lot to absorb. But Heinrich has found some works never on view (or perhaps long ago), installed some old favorites and borrowed a few pieces to augment the collection. Two works were awaiting installation during my walk-through: Sandy Skoglund's complex Fox Games, in a now-red area on the third floor under the stairs; and Tony Oursler's unhappy talking baby-in-a-suitcase, Zero, which will natter away on three.

There is no way to comment on almost 100 works, but it's fair to make a few observations:

* The sculpture piazza - Heinrich's term, and not a bad one - inhabits the most dramatic gallery in the Hamilton, near the fourth-floor prow. And the two views into this space offer different relationships.

It is still anchored by Antony Gormley's Quantum Cloud XXXIII but is surrounded by perhaps a dozen figural pieces that vary in style and size. From Tom Friedman's tiny Untitled (Styrofoam Man) to Marc Quinn's imposing marble James Gillespie, this area is all about the body. A stunning surprise: Luis Antonio Sanguino's 1960 onyx Female Nude, beautiful in its simplicity.

Tucked away in the alcove where the Dan Flavin and Phil Bender pieces used to be is John DeAndrea's Linda. Pulled out for six months - we are expecting visitors this week, after all - she'll be subbed out later for another DeAndrea work.

* Figurative work is hot right now - think Germany, China and numerous artists in the United States, for whom depictions and corruptions of the human form serve as a vehicle to explore diverse subjects.

But even in this multitude of mediums, there is a certain sameness: Heinrich has included photography (Diane Arbus, Larry Clark and Adrian Piper's head-snapping Free #1). There is conceptual work, and sculpture and paintings and more. And I appreciate a focus and a desire to introduce viewers to new work. But after a while, Richard Serra's monumental sculpture - still on view - starts to look even better than ever.

* The hand of Vicki and Kent Logan: These major museum benefactors basically collect figurative work. The dependence of this installation on their fractional and promised gifts (with a few loans) is a lesson on how one collection can shape an institution. It's also possible to see what a huge role philanthropists Mark and Polly Addison have played.

* There are some extremely provocative works (Piper), some that are thought-provoking (Beverly Semmes, Jenny Saville) and some that merely provoke (a small gallery devoted to figural variations by Pia Stadtbaumer that seem repetitive).

There's much more to write about. The portrait-heavy Modern gallery can't be ignored, though it seems lost in this reinstallation. Still, there's more time to dissect both the works in that compact space and the rest of Heinrich's discoveries while assembling a new approach to the collection. Stay tuned.

Focus: The Figure

* What: Reinstallation of the modern and contemporary galleries in the Denver Art Museum's Hamilton Building

* Where: West of Broadway between West 13th and 12th avenues

* Time frame: Up to two years

* Information: 720-865-5000; denver artmuseum.org