The Kreeger Museum

The Kreeger Museum in Washington, D.C., is a private art museum housed in a former residence. The building was designed in the 1960s by the architects Philip Johnson and Richard Foster and completed in 1967. It is an elongated, three-story structure of steel and concrete, clad in travertine on the outside and featuring large expanses of glass. Because of its hillside setting, the house looks like a two-story building from the street. Inside, travertine walls dominate, along with some teak fittings. The entrance is on the middle level and leads directly into the great hall, which rises two stories. The hall is distinguished by a shallow domed ceiling and fabric-covered walls, which together provide excellent acoustics. The house was originally conceived as a stately residence where the collectors David and Carmen Kreeger also hosted private concerts. After the couple's death, the building was converted into a museum in the 1990s, and much of the private furnishings were removed to make room for exhibitions.

The museum's collection spans works from 1850 to the end of the 20th century and reflects the personal taste of its founders. The focus is on 19th-century French art and international modern art. You can see works by artists of the Barbizon school, Impressionism, and Post-Impressionism, including several landscapes by Claude Monet as well as works by Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Edgar Degas. Cubism and Surrealism are also represented, with paintings by Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and Fernand Léger. The collection also includes Expressionist and abstract works by artists such as Max Beckmann, Josef Albers, and Frank Stella. Alongside European and American artists, you will also find works by Israeli painters.

A special feature of the collection is its group of African art, consisting mainly of wooden face masks and figures from West and Central Africa. These come from various ethnic groups such as the Bambara, Igbo, Mende, and Kuba. The collection is rounded out by Asian stone sculptures, including Buddhist sculptures from the Kushan period and figures from India, as well as ancient artifacts such as a head of Silenus from the Roman province of Syria. The sculptures can be seen both inside the house and on the rear sculpture terrace and in the parklike garden, where works by artists such as Henry Moore, Isamu Noguchi, and Aristide Maillol are on display. The museum is open to individual visitors only on certain days, while groups can tour the house by appointment.