What's On

What's On

Free Weekend Open House
(January 15 and 16)
The Phillips Collection kicks off the 90 Years of New anniversary year with a free weekend of activities, featuring the grand reopening of the newly renovated Phillips house, birthday cakes from some of D.C.'s finest pastry chefs, the opening of the Anniversary Reading Room, the debut of Howard Hodgkin's spectacular 20-foot-long etchings, As Time Goes By, and more. Fast-paced "relay tours" offer a choice of ten-minute talks at each of 90 works of art. Visitors may also enjoy a new "things to do in 90 minutes" self-guided tour or the Phillips's recently launched mobile app. Admission is free all weekend; the Sunday Concert has a discounted admission of $8.

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Birthday Cakes by D.C. Chefs
Some of D.C.'s finest pastry chefs created special birthday cake designs for the Phillips anniversary. Select a chef to learn more about what inspired his or her confection Rebekka Baltzell, Kevin Boxx, Peter Brett, Warren Brown, Chris Kujala,  Travis Olson, Melanie Parker, and Tom Wellings.

The cakes were displayed during the 90th anniversary kickoff weekend on January 15−16, which drew crowds of over 6,000. More than 1,000 visitors cast a vote for their favorite birthday cake design and donated nearly $900 to Phillips education programs. Congratulations to Chef Chris Kujala of RIS whose Pecan Butterscotch Cake was voted crowd favorite. Cakes by Chefs Peter Brett and Travis Olson were first and second runners up, respectively. View a slideshow of all eight cakes here.

90 Years of New: Howard Hodgkin's As Time Goes By
(January 8-May 8, 2011)
A special installation of Hodgkin’s most ambitious work to date, As Time Goes By (2009). Comprising starbursts of vibrant color, the two 20-foot-long, hand-painted etchings were recently acquired for the Phillips’s permanent collection. Turner Prize winner Hodgkin had his first American exhibition at the Phillips in 1984.
More about Hodgkin's work and As Time Goes By.

Director's Perspective: Howard Hodgkin's As Time Goes By
(January 27)
In the first of several Director's Perspective talks this year, Director Dorothy Kosinski discusses the major new acquisition of two monumental Hodgkin works, gifts to the museum in memory of Laughlin Phillips. By donation.

90 Years of New: Sam Gilliam
(January 29-April 24, 2011)
Gilliam creates a site-specific work for the museum's signature elliptical stairway, which he calls a "beautiful, curved frame." The artist had his first solo show at the Phillips in 1967.

Gallery Talks-Washington, D.C., Artists
(February 3)
Local artists highlight their relationships with The Phillips Collection in celebration of the museum's 90th anniversary. Speakers include Trevor Young and Max Hirshfield. By donation.

Concert  in the Galleries: Roger Reynolds
(March 3)
Resonating with Howard Hodgkin's As Time Goes By (2009), Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Roger Reynolds presents a concert in two parts. Two solo guitar pieces, "imAge/guitar" and "imagE/guitar" will precede an extended "transformation" of them in a work called "Dream Mirror" as performed by guitarist Pablo Gomez and computer musician Jaime Oliver. Included in museum admission, free for members.

Conversation with Sam Gilliam
(March 31)
Phillips curator Renee Maurer talks with the artist about his site-specific work for the museum's anniversary.

90 Years of New: Tack's Music Room
(May 7-December 31)
A monumental series of 13 works by Augustus Vincent Tack, which in 1928 was the first abstract commission of the artist, will be reinstalled in the Phillips Music Room-the space for which it was originally created.

Free Family Festival
(June 4 and 5)
A Phillips tradition-this time, with a 90th anniversary theme.

90 Years of New: Gifts from the Heather and Tony Podesta Collection
(June 16-October 2)
Recent gifts of contemporary art from collectors Heather and Tony Podesta.

90 Years of New: Morris Louis
(July 14-October 9)
Important drawings and paintings by Louis from the late 1940s to the 1960s. The Phillips, with its colorist tradition, was one of the first museums to collect his work.

90 Years of New: Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party
and European Masterworks
(September 2-December 31)

Pierre Auguste Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party makes a triumphant return to its original location, the first gallery in his home that Duncan Phillips opened to the public in 1921. Displayed with other acquisitions from the museum's first decade.

90 Years of New: The Klee Room
(September 29-December 31)
The Phillips recreates its Klee Room, which opened in 1948 as the first room dedicated exclusively to Klee's work by a museum. Duncan Phillips assembled 13 of Klee's works, which were hung together from 1948 to 1982.

90 Years of New: Joseph Marioni
(October 20-January 29, 2012)
Contemporary artist Joseph Marioni's paintings will be integrated with paintings he has chosen from the Phillips permanent collection.

Phillips Collection 90th Anniversary Birthday Bash
(November 5)
Celebrating 90 Years of New with a birthday party to remember!

Howard Hodgkin, As Time Goes By, Promised gift of Luther W. Brady in memory of Laughlin Phillips, 2010, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., 2009. © Howard Hodgkin.

Howard Hodgkin, As Time Goes By, Gift of Luther W. Brady, Mr. and Mrs. C. Richard Belger, Marion Oatsie Charles, Dr. and Mrs. Brian D. Dailey, Mr. Léonard Gianadda, Linda Lichtenberg Kaplan, Mr. and Mrs. Marc E. Leland, Caroline Macomber, B. Thomas Mansbach, Dr. and Mrs. Ronald A. Paul, Gifford and Joann Phillips, and Trish and George Vradenburg in memory of Laughlin Phillips, 2010. The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., 20009. © Howard Hodgkin.

Sam Gilliam, Koa, 1965.

Paul Klee, The Way to the Citadel, 1937. © 2008 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn.

Augustus Vincent Tack, The Voice of Many Waters, circa 1923 - 1924.

©2012 The Phillips Collection.

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