Thursday, November 19 through Sunday, November 22

Visit the Museum during Member Appreciation Days and take advantage of special savings and offers designed just for you! Receive an additional 10 percent discount—a total of 20 percent off any purchases in the Museum Stores, including the Online Store, and at the Museum Restaurant and Cafes. Enjoy discounted rates on gift memberships available only to our members. Members are an important part of our Museum family, and we want to thank you for your support! Check your mailbox in the coming weeks for additional information about Member Appreciation Days.

 

Discover paintings, furniture, sculpture, block-printed wallpapers, and ceramics representing Impressionism, International Realism, Post-Impressionism, and Art Nouveau.

 

Tours meet at the West Entrance. Free members event. Space is limited, and reservations are required.

The work of Constantin Brâncuşi redefined sculpture for a new century. Working in Paris after 1904, Brâncuşi aimed to develop a sculptural idiom that looked absolutely modern. Seeking inspiration in ancient, folk, and exotic precedents, which bypassed the classical Western tradition of sculpture, and brought his style to a more essential and simplified form. The Philadelphia Museum of Art has the largest collection of Brâncuşi sculptures in the U.S. and this tour explores his work within the context of his modernist contemporaries.

 

Tuesday Afternoons
October 6 - December 15, 2009
1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Wednesday Afternoons
October 7 - December 16, 2009
1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Thursday Mornings and Afternoons
October 8 - December 17, 2009
10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Tuition: Members $120, Nonmembers $150

Children ages 3–5 with a parent.

Learn More >>

 

Perfect for the first-time visitor, this tour provides an overview of some of the Museum's most renowned treasures in a variety of mediums.

 

Enjoy a guided tour of Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective.

 

University of Pennsylvania and Temple University graduate students, and members of the Philadelphia Museum of Art staff, offer a series of 45-minute gallery lectures focusing on the Museum's rich resources in each of their respective areas of study. This program gives visitors an in-depth look at individual masterpieces and an opportunity for discussion.

All topics are subject to change.

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Not only did the Impressionists change painting and ideas of beauty forever, they also inspired future artists to paint according to their own unique vision, a trend that continues today.

 

Join Museum Park House Guides on a tour of the historic Perelman Building highlighting the rich ornamentation and unique architectural details of this Art Deco landmark.

 

Explore the Museum's extensive collection of Asian art, including treasures from Japan, China, and Korea.

 

Tuesday Afternoons
October 6 - December 15, 2009
1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Wednesday Afternoons
October 7 - December 16, 2009
1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Thursday Mornings and Afternoons
October 8 - December 17, 2009
10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Tuition: Members $120, Nonmembers $150

Children ages 3–5 with a parent.

Learn More >>

 

Thursday afternoons: November 5, 12, 19, and December 3, 1:30–2:30 p.m.
or
Saturdays: November 14 and December 5, 10:00 a.m.–12:15 p.m.
lecturer: Matthew Palczynski, Staff Lecturer for Western Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art
Location: Van Pelt Auditorium
$100 ($80 members)

Nearly forty years after the 1971 publication of Linda Nochlin’s seminal essay “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” we continue to explore the role of gender in art. This course examines the careers of thirteen twentieth- and twenty-first century artists whose work uniquely delights us by tackling difficult questions. A copy of Nochlin’s essay will be distributed at the first class.

• Also Triumphant: Elaine de Kooning, Lee Krasner, and Helen Frankenthaler
• Being Counted: Georgia O’Keeffe, Alice Neel, Eva Hesse, and Judy Chicago
• Sculpting Beauty: Louise Bourgeois and Louise Nevelson
• Recovering Identity: Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, Lorna Simpson, and Lisa Yuskavage

 

Perfect for the first-time visitor, this tour provides an overview of some of the Museum's most renowned treasures in a variety of mediums.

 

Enjoy a guided tour of Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective.

 

Free for Members. Tours meet at the West Entrance. Space is limited, and reservations are required.

This exhibit presents a critical reassessment of this key figure in modern art and includes over 178 paintings, sculpture, prints, and drawings which reveal Gorky’s development as an artist and the evolution of his singular visual vocabulary and mature painting style. This comprehensive retrospective is the first full-scale survey of Gorky’s work in nearly thirty years, thus providing a new generation of viewers with the opportunity to see this complex, influential, and deeply moving body of work.

 

Discover a variety of styles and techniques in the Museum's superb collection of modern and contemporary art.

 

Thursday afternoons: November 5, 12, 19, and December 3, 3:00–4:00 p.m.
or
Saturdays: November 14 and December 5, 1:30–3:45 p.m.
Lecturer: Sarah Laursen, Doctoral Candidate, University of Pennsylvania
Location: Van Pelt Auditorium
$100 ($80 members)

Travel the ancient Silk Road from the origins of Buddhism in fifth century India to the height of China’s golden age in the cosmopolitan capital of Chang’an, and study the peoples, religions, and visual cultures that flourished along the way. Following in the footsteps of those who traveled this trade route, we will discover a rich history of interaction and exchange.

• The Buddha Leaves His Homeland: Early Buddhist Icons and Pilgrimage Sites in Central Asia, First to Sixth Century CE
• The Middle Kingdom and Its Periphery: The Transformation of Chinese Art from the Second Century BCE to Sixth Century CE
• Strangers in a Strange Land: Foreigners in China and Their Impact on the Arts of the Sixth to Ninth Century
• Where Does the Silk Road Lead?

 

Thursday November 12, 2009, 5:30–7:30 p.m.
Thursday November 19, 2009, 5:30–7:30 p.m.
Thursday December 3, 2009, 5:30–7:30 p.m.
6 NJ or PA hours
Members $80
Nonmembers $100
Limit 40 participants

A Teacher & Adult Programs Collaboration
Writing can provide you with deeper insight into a work of art. It allows you to share your thoughts and ideas about a work of art, or an entire exhibition, with others or in a private journal. This three-part workshop begins with a discussion using selected art essays. At the second session, art critics Edie Newhall and Roberta Fallon discuss their approaches to writing about art, and we try to write a well-developed essay on a work from the Museum’s permanent collection. During session three, we read and discuss each other’s writing and give useful feedback to further refine our writing and looking skills.

 

Thursday November 12, 2009, 5:30–7:30 p.m.
Thursday November 19, 2009, 5:30–7:30 p.m.
Thursday December 3, 2009, 5:30–7:30 p.m.
Instructors: Barbara Bassett, Curator of Education for School and Teacher Programs; and Mary Teeling, Curator of Education for Public Programs
Location: Wachovia Education Resource Center, Perelman Building
Members $80
Nonmembers $100
Limit 40 participants

Writing can provide deeper insight and is a way to share your thoughts and ideas about a work of art (or an entire exhibition). This three-part workshop begins with a discussion of selected essays on art. At the second session we’ll be joined by guest art critics, including Edith Newhall, for an informal conversation about different approaches to writing about art. We’ll choose a work from the Museum’s permanent collection for participants to try their hand at writing a well-developed, three-page essay. During the third class, we’ll read and discuss each other’s work and give useful feedback to further refine our writing—as well as our looking. Selected essays will be mailed to participants for reading before the first class.