The Phillips Collection, District of Columbia, United States

5MidwestKathM 5:00 PM May 25, 2022

Fabulous house art museum is a hidden gem!
Check The Phillips Collection off the bucket list! On past visits to DC, with and without kids, we always focused on the National Mall and the Smithsonian museums. It's only been in the past few years that I've come to know about some of the hidden gems in and around our nation's capitol. The Phillips is one of them!! Duncan Phillips and his mother Eliza and then his wife Marjorie put together a fabulous art collection, housed in their home as a way to honor his father Duncan Sr. and his brother Jim. This is one fabulous house art museum (with a couple of additions through the years). For me, Renoir's The Luncheon of the Boating Party is the piece de resistance!! Add in works by Georgia O'Keeffe, Jacob Lawrence, Degas, Van Gogh, Braques, and so many other "modern" artists of the day. It is quite a collection that is a pleasure to see displayed throughout the 1897 house and the 1907 Music Room. When we visited, they were hosting the Picasso: Painting the Blue Period exhibition, which garnered much interest. Not a huge Picasso fan, but I still found the exhibition interesting and extensive. To gain entry, we had to reserve our timed tickets; special exhibits included in the ticket price. If you drive to the museum, be forewarned that parking on the street can be difficult to find, and meters are generally for only two hours.

5PeterKatie B 5:00 PM Apr 6, 2022

Picasso's Blue Period and much more!
If you can get here by June 12, 2022, you can see a wonderful and comprehensive overview of early Picasso, focussing on his "Blue Period" but drifting forward and backward through adjacent years. Mostly paintings (a "greatest hits" selection), with some related material from others, have been assembled to give us an entrée to Paris in the first decade of the 20th century. The museum, celebrating it's 100th anniversary as America's first museum of modern art, highlights Duncan Phillips' discerning eye as a collector. His purchases tend to be best of their kind, including Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party. The museum is in two parts, Phillips' original house and an added three-story extension, attractively connected. Cost for Adult entry: $16