About the museum
The story of The Phillips Collection
The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., opened in 1921 in the family home of the collector Duncan Phillips, making it America's first museum of modern art.
Its intimate rooms hold Impressionist and modern masterpieces, from Renoir and Van Gogh to Bonnard and a chapel-like room of paintings by Mark Rothko.
The collection
Duncan Phillips bought art he loved and hung it to create conversations between periods, placing El Greco near Cézanne or Goya near Picasso. The collection has grown to around 6,000 works.
Its highlights include Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party, bought in 1923, Van Gogh, Degas's Dancers at the Barre, Bonnard, Paul Klee and the Rothko Room, designed with the artist's advice.
At ArtLogia you can order 24 of its paintings as hand-painted reproductions, by 18 artists led by Vincent van Gogh, Gustave Courbet and Henri Rousseau.
- paintings to order
- 24
- artists
- 18
- art movements
- 7
- years covered
- 1600–1917
The building
The museum began in the family's Georgian Revival house in the Dupont Circle neighbourhood, opened as the Phillips Memorial Gallery in 1921 in memory of his father and brother. Later wings were added in 1960 and 2006.
Masterpieces to see
Planning a visit
Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party is the museum's most famous work; the Rothko Room seats just a few visitors at a time.
