Philadelphia Museum Of Art
The Philadelphia Museum of Art, in partnership with the city, the region, and art museums around the globe, seeks to preserve, enhance, interpret, and extend the reach of its great collections in particular, and the visual arts in general, to an increasing and increasingly diverse audience as a source of delight, illumination, and lifelong learning.
This is the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s mission statement and one that they seem to be abiding by very well. Located at the end of Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the Philadelphia Museum of Art stands among the great art institutions of the world. It has grown tremendously in the 125 years since its opening. Today, the Philadelphia Museum of Art houses over 300,000 works of art encompassing some of the greatest achievements of human creativity, and offers a wealth of exhibitions and education programs for a public of all ages.
A legacy of the great Centennial Exposition of 1876 held in Fairmount Park, the Pennsylvania State Legislature cleared the way for a permanent fireproof building to house the art gallery of that exposition "for the improvement and enjoyment of the people of the Commonwealth."
Philadelphia Museum Of Art
Echoing the Greek designs of great temples, the museum’s architecture is considered one of the crowning achievements of the city of Philadelphia. The original building was designed by architect Hermann J. Schwarzmann. It was replaced in the 1920s by a newer, larger building when it became apparent that the artwork housed there needed more space. The architects retained by the Park Commission to design the new Museum were Horace Trumbauer and the firm of Zantzinger, Borie, and Medary. Julian Abele, one of the first African American architects to come to prominence in the United States, served as chief designer for Trumbauer during this crucial period. Under the direction of distinguished architectural historian Fiske Kimball, the museum forged ahead to be considered one of the foremost art institutions of the United States.
Over the years the museum made many great acquisitions which are still housed in the museum today. The Rodin Museum houses the largest public collection outside of Paris of works by the celebrated late 19th-century French sculptor Auguste Rodin. It was given to the city by the philanthropist and motion picture magnate, Jules E. Mastbaum, whose love for Rodin’s work led him to amass a huge collection over a short period of time. The artist's imposing Gates of Hell stands at the entrance to the museum, and one of his most famous works, The Thinker, greets visitors at the gate.
John G. Johnson Collection
In 1917, the noted lawyer and collector John G. Johnson bequeathed his collection of more than 1,200 paintings to the citizens of Philadelphia. It is one of the finest groups of paintings assembled by an individual in the United States, containing masterpieces by Italian, Flemish, Dutch, German, Spanish, French, and English artists.
Among its impressive holdings in Renaissance, American, Impressionist and Modern art, the museum also has a great Rogier van der Weyden altarpiece, a painting by Cezanne, Large Bathers, a room devoted to Philadelphia's own Thomas Eakins, and Marcel Duchamp's mixed-media Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors (The Large Glass) and his masterpiece, Nude Descending a Staircase. Upstairs there are over 80 period rooms. The Museum has had many exhibitions in recent years, from Cezanne and Degas to Brancusi and Barnett Newman. While providing classical outlets for art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art continues to play an integral part in a distinctively local community: Wednesday and Friday evening programs have incorporated live music, film and dance from all over the region.
Of course, the most important feature of the museum is that the stairs out
front were…yes…the very same stairs that Rocky ran up.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and open late on Fridays until 8:45 pm. The museum is closed on Sundays and Mondays and legal holidays.