Art in an Intimate Setting

Art in an Intimate Setting

The Phillips Collection offers an intimate, homelike atmosphere that gives visitors time and space to consider its works of modern art—many of which were first created to hang in private homes, rather than large public spaces.

Originally housed in specially designed galleries in the Phillips family home, the museum has expanded to encompass that first building as well as additional adjacent spaces. Throughout these changes, the gallery spaces have been kept at a scale that encourages visitors to relax, slow down, and experience the works on display.

Art at the Phillips is exhibited in galleries of varied shapes and proportions, rather than uniformly sized rooms. Some of these spaces include mantelpieces or windows, which provide visual anchors for nearby works of art. As Duncan Phillips once wrote of the museum, "there is a sense of art lived with, worked with and loved."

Winslow Homer, To the Rescue, 1886

©2010 The Phillips Collection.

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