“If you want to look at art, there is more of it to be seen per square mile on the east coast of the United States than there is in any other place on earth.” So said British art critic Richard Dorment of the Daily Telegraph. In New England’s art museums, you can see everything from rare Egyptian relics through great French Impressionists and the most up to date contemporary art. Let alone the American painters who were – and still are – inspired by the region. And, even if you have been to one of these museums before, the special exhibitions are well worth a repeat visit.
CONNECTICUT
It is easy to find out what is where: just follow the Connecticut Art Trail to 14 fine museums all round the state. Start with America’s oldest public art museum – and still one of its finest – the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford. West of the city, in Farmington, the Hill-Stead Museum showcases French Impressionists, while down in Old Lyme, their American counterparts are the speciality of the Florence Griswold Museum. New Haven boasts the wide-ranging Yale University Art Gallery as well as the renowned Yale Center for British Art, home of the greatest collection of British art outside the UK.
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MAINE
Also easy-to-follow is the Maine Art Museum Trail, linking seven collections. Maine has inspired some of America’s favourite painters, such as Edward Hopper, Winslow Homer and the Wyeth family, whose works are a highlight of the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland. In Portland, the city’s impressive Museum of Art has a wide-ranging collection, including paintings by Picasso and Degas, Braque and Magritte. On the coast, the Ogunquit Museum of American Art is worth a visit for the seaside building as much as for the ceramics, paintings, sculpture and photographs – all by American artists.
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NEW HAMPSHIRE
The big news in New Hampshire is that the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester has just re-opened after a major expansion that provides more space for works by Picasso, Matisse and Monet, Georgia O’Keeffe, Alexander Calder and Andrew Wyeth. One gallery is dedicated to New Hampshire Artists, with works by the most accomplished artists working in the state.
From the museum, you can tour the Zimmerman House, the only Frank Lloyd Wright house in New England that is open to the public. At Dartmouth College in Hanover, the Hood Museum of Art is noted for its American portraits as well as the collection of African art.
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RHODE ISLAND
The smallest state in the Union has artistic heritage and a vibrant contemporary scene. Find out more on the Providence Arts & Cultural Trail. At the city’s Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Museum, the huge collection ranges from ancient Greek sculpture to contemporary paintings, while, America’s second-oldest art club, the Providence Art Club, founded in 1880, is still going strong. Newport’s grand mansions, such as the Breakers and Marble House, are filled with art, but don’t forget the Newport Art Museum, with collections reflecting Newport and south-eastern New England, from Fitz Henry Lane and George Inness to contemporary artists, such as Dale Chihuly.
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VERMONT
Folk art has long been popular in Vermont. The largest public collection of works by Grandma Moses is at the delightful Bennington Museum. Still working on his familiar barns, flags, landscapes and animals is Warren Kimble. See the first major retrospective of his works this summer at the Shelburne Museum. Located near Burlington, the village-like setting includes 25 historic buildings that house everything from hand-made quilts to Impressionist paintings: five works by Claude Monet, four by Edouard Manet, seven by Edgar Degas. At the St Johnsbury Athenaeum, the centrepiece of the collection is one of the largest paintings you will ever see. Albert Bierstadt’s vast Domes of Yosemite (1867) is an astonishing 10 feet by 15 feet!
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