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Renoir returns to Phillips

April 20, 2006 12:50 am

By SHEILA WICKOUSKI

For THE FREE LANCE-STAR

Sometimes a painting inspires great love. Renoir's "Luncheon of the Boating Party" is one such story of a collector's love for a great work.

Long before there was the National Gallery of Art or the Museum of Modern Art--even before there were modern art history books--Duncan Phillips opened his collection so that the public could view works that were the best he could find then, and which have proved to be seminal pieces.

In contrast to other collectors working at the same time (such as the Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pa., whose collection boasts 60 Renoirs), Phillips declared that one Renoir was enough for him.

The choice he made was superb.

In 1923 he brought his only Renoir painting, "Luncheon of the Boating Party," back from Paris to join his already impressive collection. That painting would be embraced by the city of Washington like no other, and it would become the signature image of Phillips' new museum.

The work, one of the greatest impressionist paintings ever created, has returned home to Washington, along with several of the museum's best-loved paintings and sculpture. "The Renoir Returns: A Celebration of Masterworks at the Phillips Collection" will be on view through July 30.

What Phillips created was a most pleasant visual history of modern art. Starting with El Greco (Phillips called him the "first impassioned expressionist") and including works by Paul Cezanne, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Pierre Bonnard, Georges Braque, Edgar Degas, Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet, Phillips' collection is an experience in visual language that engages the senses and excites the spirit.

"Luncheon of the Boating Party," however, would become closely associated with the Phillips Collection.

The work is both complex and endearing. Renoir combined several genres: multiple group portraits, a superb still life of food on the table, and elements of landscape in the background.

Unlike the pastoral scenes of the 18th century, his work contained subjects who were real people comfortably enjoying life. Everyone in the painting has been identified by name and occupation. It is, in turn, easy to identify with them and their celebration of fine food, friendship and good weather.

"Luncheon of the Boating Party" establishes a relationship with the viewer that is not easily defined by its colors and lines.

During the recent addition to and modernization of the Phillips, "Luncheon of the Boating Party" and other masterworks went on a four-year international tour.

It had been 50 years since the painting left its original home in Paris. In all, more than 2 million people on three continents viewed this traveling exhibition, which has now returned to Washington to be hung in a newly designed space.

Everywhere the collection went, people waited anxiously for "Luncheon of the Boating Party" to be unpacked and hung for viewing. The excitement it generated was that of a visiting celebrity.

Too often in the design of museums, architects seek to create buildings which are themselves works of art and which overshadow the collections. This is not the case with the Phillips' new wing. While sleek and modern, it incorporates touches that link it to 1897 and the original home of Phillips and his collection.

The Rothko Room, filled with the large paintings of the abstract expressionist artist Mark Rothko, is one of the spaces to open in the museum's new Sant Building. Rothko's works overwhelm in this intimate area, saturating the space with color and sensation. This is in keeping with the original intention of Rothko and Phillips.

The completed Sant Building also includes a new auditorium done in natural cherry wood, an art activity room, a new library and archives--all of which promote Phillips' idea of going beyond the works on the wall and sharing with the public the art experience.

The Phillips has planned many activities for the return of its masterworks, including a chance to view "Luncheon of the Boating Party" once more on the walls of its home, just as Phillips himself would have enjoyed it.