Our Adventure Continues
Day 8 | Part 2: We Continue on to Pittsburgh
Our First Stop: The Frick Art Museum and Gardens
After Polymath Park, we’re just a short distance to Pittsburgh and the Frick Museum and Gardens. (As mentioned before, we had hoped to also visit the Andy Warhol museum but it was closed on the day we were there. (Spoiler alter: Stay tuned for day 9!)
So, we had more time to spend at the Frick, have a little lunch, return to our VRBO home in the woods, and have a home cooked meal before nightfall–gotta keep up our strength, you know! More on that later…
The Frick Pittsburgh was the vision of Helen Clay Frick and opened in 1970. It originally contained her personal collection of fine and decorative arts. She was the daughter of Henry Clay Frick and after inheriting his extensive collection of art, went on collecting and established the Frick Pittsburgh museum on land which also includes a family mansion called Clayton. Helen Clay Frick had a long life of philanthropy and a deep interest in history and art. Spend a little time reading about her life, here.
The Clayton Mansion
We were not able to tour the home on the day we were there so I’ve “borrowed” a few images from their website to show you what we missed…if you would like to see additional images, head over to this website where you can see more images and even set up a tour if you’re in Pittsburgh and have a desire to see a gilded age premier home. (Keep in mind that Helen’s father was a close associate of Andrew Carnegie and other magnates of the late 1800’s).
The Frick Museum
The Frick’s collection includes their permanent Renaissance Italian paintings, French and Flemish tapestries, eighteenth-century French paintings and a large variety of sculpture and decorative arts pieces from Chinese and European artists. Just to name a few.
On our visit, we took in an intriguing show called SLAY: Artemisia Gentileschi & Kehinde Wiley. By comparing two views of oppression by artists 400 years apart, it gave us a lasting impression of how art can move and educate the viewer (us) on how humans have been dealing with oppressive obstacles throughout history.
For a fuller read on the exhibition, go here. It’s shocking depictions of how one strong woman fought back from her world of oppressiveness might inspire and give strength to contemporary women (hopefully without as much bloodshed–spoiler alert!).
Final Views of Pittsburgh
We travel up to the highest hill (Mt. Washington) overlooking downtown Pittsburgh to take in the sites of the city and have an early dinner before heading back to our home in the woods. It was a full day of art, architecture and general site seeing that has inspired us to plan on a return trip to Pittsburgh tomorrow to see The Andy Warhol Museum before heading to our next overnight destination, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Upcoming Next: It's Back to Pittsburgh Then We're On To Cincinnati!
After a slight course diversion, we decide to go back to Pittsburgh to see the Andy Warhol Museum before working our way back west. Sometimes, you need be flexible!!
See you soon!