A couple of posts ago, I wrote about gallery walls. As I was writing, I remembered visiting Hill-Stead, home of American iron magnate Alfred Pope, where the public can enjoy world-famous paintings in a home setting.
The wealthy businessman acquired the best, original impressionistic paintings and grouped them on the walls of his home to enjoy daily. In his will, he instructed his only child to leave the paintings in their environment for the public to enjoy. I am so glad he did, because--although my husband and I visited over ten years ago--the home and the paintings left a lasting impression.
The large, lovely colonial American Revival-styled home designed by his daughter, Theopate Pope, the first female American architect, is impressive enough.
However, the amazing collection of art is truly confounding. In the nineteen rooms open to the public, you pass "Grainstacks, in Bright Sunlight" by Claude Monet
and one of Mary Cassatt's famous domestic, mother-and-child paintings, "Sara Handing a Toy to the Baby".
The collection includes seventeen copper plate etchings and lithographs by James McNeill Whistler and some of his best oil paintings, like "Symphony in Violet and Blue".
As if these aren't enough, the Edgar Degas paintings of ballerinas, such as "Dancers in Pink", are especially striking.
If you are ever in Farmington, Connecticut, put Hill-Stead home on your itinerary for its astounding "gallery walls"; they are truly unforgettable.
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