The City of Brotherly Love II: How to Present Art is Art

Benjamin Franklin Parkway is one of the must-see places in Philadelphia, from a visitor's point of view. If you have only one day planned in Philly, go spend a few hours in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. If you have one day plus available in town, I suggest you schedule a whole day for the Parkway, including enough time enjoying your favorite genre of art in the museums and strolling around Fairmount Water Works.

(Left: view on parkway from the stairs of the museum of art; Right: fairmount water works)

The parkway is comparable to the Museum Mile in New York City. Starting from the Love Park and Logan Square northwest bound, there are The Franklin, which is the same kind as the American Museum of Natural History, and Rodin Museum boasting the "largest collection of Auguste Rodin sculptures outside France", and the Philadelphia Museum of Art as the third-largest art museum in the United States. There are many more musuems, sculptures, fountains, and Free Library of Philadelphia alongside the parkway.

It's breath-taking experience from the very first sight of the parkway. The entire parkway is planned as a whole, with different museums leading the flow and a number of outdoor art installations decorating in between. There's a main road in the middle, making the parkway symmetrically aesthetic. People can have a clear view from the Museum of Art to the City Hall. The two magnificent buildings gaze at each other, depicting a good picture of the city full of art and history.

I spent a full day in the Museum of Art, but didn't finish all the galleries yet. The vast collections of art work is organized very well by genre and times. I really appreciate the efforts that the museum takes to make the whole experience engaging and make art approachable to everyone. I like the fact that art work is not only presented well in galleries but also in the non-gallery space. A lot of art pieces are put into the generic areas, such as the hallway. As you may see the first picture at the beginning of this post, beautiful 16th-century Dutch tiles are hung on the wall of outside the cafeteria. At the moment you would see how the old colonial house was decorated with these imported tiles and feel the life back hundreds of years ago.

To immerse the visitors into art and the relevant old times, the museum brings different pieces of art work together to create a context. Art is not existent on its own. An artist's personal experience is brushed with his or her emotions onto the backdrop of history when he or she lives in. Bring the historic context back in life is a good way for visitors to learn more about the art and art history.

(Left: American furniture; Right: traditional Chinese study of a scholar in Qing dynasty)

There are many more details that are used to engage visitors in the museum, such as individual audio tours and real-life videos explaining the culture in several galleries. In the Medieaval European gallery, a big map with miniature art pieces pinned on it and detailed timeline gives an overview of the development of the art work in that period of time.

(Left: Medieaval European gallery map; Right: visitors watching art education videos in the museum shop)

I just want to reiterate it's a wonderful art museum that you should see for yourself. No matter you are a layman or an expert, you'll have a great time here because the art work is presented in a 'user-friendly' manner (one of my cliché but I love it :)...) that you can learn good stories behind art work and art knowledge.

(To be continued...)

(Collage of Day 2 in Philadephia Museum of Art)