Conversations Among Artworks

Conversations Among Artworks

At the Phillips, works of art are hung in diverse groupings, which are meant to suggest visual "conversations" among the works in the viewer's eye and mind. "My arrangements are for the purpose of contrast and analogy," Duncan Phillips once explained. "I bring together congenial spirits among the artists from different parts of the world and from different periods of time."

As in any gathering, the conversational groups shift over time, with regular changes in the choice of works on display and their placement within the museum. Since galleries at the Phillips are not organized by categories or time periods, there is no specified order in which to see them. Instead, visitors wander freely, savoring the contrasts and correspondences among the "congenial spirits" in each room.

Jean-Siméon Chardin, A Bowl of Plums, c. 1728.

Georges Braque, Lemons and Napkin Ring, 1928. © 2008 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.

©2012 The Phillips Collection.

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