Published 16/11/2011
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One of the foremost art institutions in the United States, the Philadelphia Museum of Art began as museum of decorative arts when it was opened as the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art for the Centennial Exhibition of 1876. Today the collection contains 225,000 works from the Western world and Asia, including encyclopedic holdings of costumes, textiles, drawings, prints and photographs. As one would expect from a museum located in one of the centers of the American Revolution, Philadelphia's American collections are among the finest in the country. Highlights include: The largest body of works by Philly native Thomas Eakins in existence, including The Gross Clinic (bottom left). Elsa Schiaparelli’s iconic mid-20th century fashions, including the notorious "lobster dress" co-created by Salvador Dali and worn by Wallis Simpson. An impressive group of paintings by Revolutionary era painter Charles Wilson Peale and his descendents including The Staircase Group (left). The museum’s European holdings are no less impressive, with one of the most comprehensive collections of armor and arms in the West, a noteworthy group of 17th century Dutch paintings and a large group of sculptures by Auguste Rodin bequeathed to the city in 1926. Highlights include a standout altarpiece(bottom right) by Rogier van der Weyden, a Large Bathers by Renoir and Duchamp's notorious Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors. |
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