In the Gallery

After a year of renovations, the National Academy Museum and School celebrated its reopening this weekend with free admission and classes. Having never been, I decided to visit.

Founded in 1825, the National Academy includes a museum, art school, and artists and architects association, something akin to the Royal Academy in London. Housed in a beautiful Beaux-Arts style building on Fifth Avenue, the museum is not large—its exhibits are on view in small rooms on the upper floors of the building. While the main exhibit, "Will Barnet at 100," wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, I quite enjoyed “An American Collection,” which showed off 120 paintings from the museum’s collection in a salon-style display, which I adore. Some of the paintings on the crowded walls that caught my eye were "Magnolia Blossom" by John La Farge, "Croquet Player" by Winslow Homer, and "The Conversation" by Abraham Leon Kroll. The man painting in the middle of the room only added to the atmosphere.

To find out more about the National Academy, visit here.

Photo by Michele.