Phillips Collection - Washington, DC

Address:1600 21st St., NW
Washington, District of Columbia
Tel: (202) 387-2151

If you are looking for high-end modern art in the nation's capital, check out the Phillips Collection, America's first museum of modern art! The Phillips Collection opened in 1921 in the home of Duncan Phillips (1886–1966), where it is housed to this day. The museum is now a publicly-supported, non-government museum.

The collection includes Renoir's famous "Luncheon of the Boating Party," and other outstanding Impressionist paintings by Van Gogh, Monet, Degas and Cézanne, as well as works by Braque, Picasso, Matisse and Klee. American works are equally celebrated, including works by Homer, Eakins, Ryder, O'Keeffe, Marin, and Dove, Rothko, Lawrence and Diebenkorn. The museum is situated in an elegant 1890s Georgian Revival mansion, and the carpeted rooms with stained-glass windows, oak paneling, plush chairs and sofas, and fireplaces establish a comfortable, homelike setting that you don't find at most museums. Introductory tours of the museum are offered every Saturday at 11 a.m.

In addition to its wonderful collection, the museum's special program includes classical concerts every Sunday from October through May, as well as Artful Evenings, the museum's Thursday night extended-hours program. Artful Evenings is mainly comprised of gallery talks by guest lecturers and members of The Phillips Collection staff.

The museum's café offers a selection of coffee, pastries, fresh sandwiches and salads, and is available for rental from 5-7 p.m. on Thursday's Artful Evenings if you are planning a small museum soirée.

Visitors are not permitted to use cell phones in the galleries, nor are they allowed backpacks, including back baby carriers. However strollers and front-facing baby carriers are permitted.

The Phillips Collection is located in the Dupont Circle area, one-half block off of Massachusetts Avenue on 21st Street, between Q and R Streets. To get there via subway, take the Red line to the Dupont Circle Station, Q Street exit. At the top of the escalator, go left on Q Street one block to 21st Street. The museum entrance is located halfway up 21st Street on the left.

The Phillips Collection, America's first museum of modern art, opened in 1921 in the home of Duncan Phillips (1886–1966). The collection includes Renoir's great masterpiece Luncheon of the Boating Party, along with other outstanding Impressionist paintings by van Gogh, Monet, Degas and Cézanne.