The Phillips Collection

It was raining like crazy as I came up the very long and steep metro stop escalator at DuPont Circle so I stopped for a coffee in a tiny bookstore. Overheard was the conversation of two thirty-something's from separate embassies engaged in a diplomatic conversation. At that moment I truly felt that I was in the Nation's Capitol.

Two blocks down I found the wonderful Phillips collection. There is something special about looking at fine art in someone's house.

The Phillips Collection is an art museum founded by Duncan Phillips in 1921 as the Phillips Memorial Gallery. Phillips was the grandson of James H. Laughlin, a banker and co-founder of the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company.

Among the artists represented in the collection are Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Gustave Courbet, El Greco, Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Pierre Bonnard, Paul Klee, Arthur Dove, Winslow Homer, James McNeill Whistler, Jacob Lawrence, Augustus Vincent Tack, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Mark Rothko.

Care to guess who painted this beauty?

Reclining Figure by Pablo Picasso, Spanish, 1881-1973, oil on canvas, 1934.

Next is Succession by Wasily Kandinsky, Moscow, Russia1866 - Neuilly, France, 1944, oil on canvas, 1935.

We were allowed to make photographs; it is so nice to make my own pictures.

Two in a Boat by Theodore Robinson, Irasberg, Vermont 1852 - NY, NY 1896' oil on canvas adhered to cardboard, 1891.

What do they see?

Duncan Phillips (1886–1966) played a seminal role in introducing America to modern art. Born in Pittsburgh, Phillips and his family moved to Washington, D.C., in 1895. He, along with his mother, established The Phillips Memorial Gallery after the sudden, untimely deaths of his father, Duncan Clinch Phillips (1838–1917), a Pittsburgh window glass millionaire, and brother, James Laughlin Phillips (May 30, 1884 – 1918).

Beginning with a small family collection of paintings, Phillips, a published art critic, expanded the collection dramatically. A specially built room over the north wing of the family home provided a public gallery space. With the collection exceeding 600 works and facing public demand, the Phillips family moved to a new home in 1930,turning the entire 21st Street residence into an art museum.

The Repentant St. Peter by El Greco, Greek, 1541-1614, oil on canvas, c. 1600.

How would you like to grow up being surrounded by such art?

Luncheon of the Boating Party by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Lioges, France 1841.- Cagnes, France, 1919, oil on canvas 1880 - 81.

This is a fairly large piece, and it is so fresh-looking that it seemed to sparkle, especially the wine in the glass as well as the ribbon in the woman's hair. It would not surprise me if the characters in the painting beckoned to us to join them --the work is so full of life.