America's best small museums -- Part 2.
With the National Gallery of Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the 19 museums of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC has so many must-sees that many visitors miss what in any other city would be a big draw - The Phillips Collection.Housed in an 1897 Georgian Revival home in Dupont Circle, the museum was opened in 1921 to showcase the collection of art critic Duncan Phillips and his wife, artist Marjorie Acker. With major funding from the family steel fortune, Phillips and his wife were avid collectors and boosters of what was, at the time, modern art. By 1930, the Collection was already 600 paintings deep. And over the next 50 years, it would grow to nearly 2,500.
The Collection is especially strong in Impressionists, including van Gogh, Monet, Degas, Cezanne, and Renoir, whose Luncheon of the Boating party is a highlight. Even if you've seen countless reproductions of this painting, and you likely have, you'll be amazed by the flesh tones when you see it in person. Lovers of American art will appreciate Homer, Ryder, Eakins, O'Keefe, and Dove. And the Fauves (Matisse, Braque, and Dufy), and the Nabis (particularly Vuillard and Bonnard) are also well represented.
In Washington, admission to the Collection is free on weekdays. If you're not in Washington, the Collection's exhibition of American Impressionist paintings is touring the country in 2009. Look for it at the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach and the Santa Fe Museum of Fine Arts.
For more information, visit www.phillipscollection.org
