The Grand Gallery
Claude Monet, The Basin at Argenteuil, 1874. Anonymous gift.
Installation view of Painting Air: Spencer Finch, February 24-July 29, 2012.
Edouard Manet, Le Repos, ca. 1870-71.
My husband and I shared a lovely day in Providence visiting the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art. Its’ “Grand Gallery” is stunning, with its deep teal walls, a hundred or more paintings hung in the European style of layers, with each competing for attention. The museum is breathtaking from a design standpoint with internationally acclaimed artist Spencer Finch testing the limits of visual perception and his investigations of light and color. The Museum’s renowned collection of 19th- and early 20th-century French painting and sculpture centers around Edouard Manet’s magnificent portrait of Berthe Morisot, Le Repos. It is amazing that such a small place has such famous works by Monet, Degas, Cézanne, Pissarro, Gauguin, Picasso, Matisse, and Rodin are exhibited in intimate galleries that overlook the internal garden of the Museum’s stately 1920s Radeke Building.
We ended our day at Hemenway’s Seafood Grille and Oyster Bar, a wonderful restaurant that is part of our very own Newport Restaurant Group & walking distance of the museum.
Perfect 24 hr getaway!
