Fodor's Expert Review The Phillips Collection

With its setting on a quiet residential street and its low-key elegance, the Phillips Collection offers unhurried access to its first-rate collection of masterpieces from the 19th century and later. At the heart of the collection are works by distinguished impressionist and modern artists, including Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, and Henri Matisse. A stunning quartet of Mark Rothko works merits its own room. The museum opened in 1921 in the Georgian Revival mansion of collector Duncan Phillips, who wanted to showcase his art in a museum that would stand as a memorial to his father and brother. In the intervening years, the museum expanded, and now includes much more gallery space, a café, a gift shop, and an auditorium.