Art Museum Philadelphia address

The Experience

The Woodmere Museum’s building, an elegant stone mansion in the Chestnut Hill area, makes the perfect backdrop for shows of art in the realist tradition, from the 19th century to the present. Recent exhibits have featured landscape painter William Trost Richards, Susan Macdowell Eakins and Philadelphia’s modernist icon Arthur B. Carles.

The museum’s permanent collection of over 2, 500 artworks is also strong in art of the region, with paintings by Pennsylvania Impressionists Edward Redfield and Daniel Garber, illustrators N.C. Wyeth and Violet Oakley and many others.

History

Charles Knox Smith left his home on six acres, and his collections of art and furniture to create what he hoped would be “a very lively art center, ” and Woodmere opened its doors in 1940. Both the art on view and Knox Smith’s own furnishings are but a small sampling of Woodmere’s holdings, so items are rotated several times during the year.

Its nine gallery rooms include the spacious Kuch gallery, with a long, curving outer wall, skylights and a balcony-level viewing area. The museum’s art exhibits are supplemented by tours, lectures, music concerts and other special events.

Other Information

Open Tue – Sun

Insider Tip

Smith made his fortune in oil and mining, but the core of his grand home was a simple farmhouse. In its parlors you can now find his fine rugs, tapestries and a number of richly-painted Royal Sevres and Viennese vases.

Kids’ Stuff

Kids will be intrigued by the pine sculpture of George Washington, as well as his original death mask.

Friday Night Jazz

Every Friday evening from 6-8 p.m., Woodmere hosts Friday Night Jazz. Guests sip on complimentary wine while enjoying the tunes, which in the past have included toe-tapping tributes to icons from John Coltrane to Jimi Hendrix and Nancy Wilson, among others.