The museum is loacated in a spacious classical building.
Art Touring
Philadelphia Museum of Art
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is one of the top ten museums in the United States. It houses a collection of more than 240,000 works of art, with particularly strong holdings in Impressionist painting.
Located at the end of Benjamin Franklin Parkway and situated on 10 beautiful acres, the Philadelphia Museum of Art is a spacious, Greek Revival building with more than 200 period-themed exhibition rooms. It has vast collections of pieces spanning over 2,000 years, including works of contemporary art, Italian paintings with gold backgrounds, Japanese screens, and Shaker furniture, and boasts one of the most magnificent collection of French Impressionist works in the country.
The museum has the largest collection of impressionist paintings in the U.S.
A Rich Collection of Impressionist and Modern Art
Originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition, America’s first world’s Fair, the museum was built to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Inspired by London’s South Kensington Museum (present-day Victoria and Albert Museum), it opened to the public in May 1877. With the completion of the iconic main building in 1928, the Philadelphia museum’s current complex eventually took shape.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is characterized by its vast, diversified holdings of works of art. Thanks to generous donors, the museum collections range from Chinese pottery to 3D collages; the museum is especially noted for its masterpieces in Impressionist and contemporary art. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, only a few art connoisseurs appreciated and purchased the new avant-garde paintings, sculptures, and sketches. Americans, especially Philadelphia residents, were among the earliest enthusiasts collecting Impressionist paintings. The country’s entrepreneurs were willing to financially support these promising European artists who were then largely underappreciated. Thus collecting avant-garde pieces was soon deemed a symbol of status and taste. The museum acquired many of the locals’ early holdings of Impressionist works through purchases or donations. For example, the museum purchased its first Impressionist painting, Marine View with a Sunset by Claude Monet, with the W. P. Wilstach Fund in 1921 when it acquired 10 paintings from the estate of Alexander J. Cassatt. Given that his sister was Mary Cassatt, it is not surprising that he had a collection of Impressionist paintings.
Masterpieces from the Philadelphia Museum of Art:
Quartier Four, Auvers-sur-Oise (Landscape, Auvers)
Paul Cezanne, known as the “Father of Modern Art,” went beyond the traditional realistic approach and employed a geometric painting style of orderly lines and proportion, gradually developing a clean and solid style.
The artist rendered his subjects in dense, angular brushstrokes of concentrated color and broke the landscape into geometric shapes, creating a colorful rural scene.
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Summer Landscape, Eragny
This landscape by Camille Pissarro, hailed as the “Father of Impressionism,” features a palette suggesting the interplay of light and shadows through the sunlight and air, forming a tranquil scene. In 1887, Pissarro applied minute dots of color to create this painting. The painting was later damaged by a large gash along the top left edge, but the artist repaired it in 1902. By then,
he had abandoned the Pointillist style, and the reworked sections, including the sky, exhibit the more Impressionistic style of his later years.
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Th e Canal at Saint-Mammes
The “Home Sweet Home” porcelain vase is inspired by Alfred Sisley’s painting, e Canal at Saint-Mammes (1885), that is currently owned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Sisley was an Impressionist painter; he primarily painted landscapes and depicted the subtle changes of Mother Nature. He made numerous paintings of the Canal du Loing, portraying its beauty under different seasons and weather.
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Th e Ballet Class
The Ballet Class reveals the detailed composition of Edgar Degas. He contrasted the movement of the dancers with the mother reading the newspaper in the foreground. A mirror that reflects the city streets elongates the large and empty space. Girls begin to study ballet at age seven or eight and it is their dream
to become a principal dancer. In the “Joyful Dance” vase, the dancers reveal their dreams and longings for a bright future through their bodies’ elegant postures.
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●Quartier Four, Auvers-sur-Oise (Landscape, Auvers), 1873, Paul Cezanne
Landscape at Auvers Porcelain Vase
●Summer Landscape, Eragny, 1887 & 1902, Camille Pissarro
Summer Landscape Porcelain Vase
●The Canal at Saint-Mammes, 1885, Alfred Sisley
Home Sweet Home
The Canal at Saint-Mammes porcelain vase
Joyful Dance
Ballet Design porcelain vase
