Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art — Attraction in Hartford

This is a beautiful and totally unexpected GEM. The way the artwork is displayed in the Morgan Gallery is in the grand manner of the best museums in Europe, and thru out there is a beautiful representation of many great masters. This museum overall is a second tier collection that is excellent. There are pieces, of course, that ARE first tier, such as those by Klimt. Of great interest is the magnificent Artemisia Gentileschi’s “Self-Portrait as a Lute Player” (ca. 1615–18). It is good for to see female painters whose work survived. There is on display a solitary gown by Parisian design house Worth believed to have belonged to Countess Sophie Petrovna Shouvaloff Benckendorff (1837–1928). One need not see more than this one gown, it is a museum of stitchery in and of itself! We had lunch at the very chic Cafe which is really a full sit down restaurant. The Soupe du Jour was butternut Squash. It was the best I have ever tasted... and I am a bit of a nut about butternut. We found the Bookstore to be delightful, mostly because of the two young ladies who worked there with such incredible enthusiasm AND knowledge about every trinket, book, postcard with regard to how it related to an exhibit past, present or upcoming! First time I have ever experienced that in a museum bookstore! It was so cute, and so appreciated. How rare these days that ANY salesperson has passion about being at work, about looking the customer in the eye! These two ladies get A+. Regarding tickets: Local libraries give free admission passes to this...

I work at a day program for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. On Saturdays, we take day trips out in the community. My job at is to find venues and activities for our people to participate in and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum seemed like a good activity, especially for a self guided tour which I was pleased was an option for them. When dealing with the population we are, it is best to give them some freedom to go off on their own and do their own things with the supervision of our staff. One of my guys was leaning a little too close to the wall where paintings were hanging, and a staff member from the museum came running up to the group and announced herself as their "impromptu tour guide". My staff replied by saying that they had a self guided tour scheduled. But the museum staff said they were getting too close to the walls and proceeded to follow them throughout the entire museum, making my staff and several of the guys uncomfortable. She even went as far as to follow them both up and down the elevator. Seems to me someone may have been judging some books by their covers and judging behaviors based off appearances. Would definitely not recommend this place to anyone, especially someone providing care for someone with a disability. I understand the artwork featured is expensive as well as pieces of history, but rest assured, in a ratio of 1 staff to 5 individuals, we would not let anything happen, and we go to museums and other similar...

Why fight the traffic and the crowds in Boston or New York when there's a great art collection in Hartford that (alas!) is never crowded? The sheer quantity doesn't match the Met or MFA, but the quality is exceptional and the breadth surprising. The American holdings are predictably excellent, with plenty of glorious Hudson River paintings, primitives placed with the Colonial furniture, Copley and Earl, Inness and Ryder, our native Impressionists, right up through Hartley, Milton Avery, and my favorite-ever O'Keeffe to Pollock and the New York school.

But then there's a surprising selection of outstanding 16th and 17th century Italian art, plenty from 19th century France, and more than a sprinkling of gems from almost all times and places--outstanding work by artists as various as Fra Angelico, Cranach, Caravaggio, Zurbaran, Bronzino, Klimt, and arguably the greatest works of Holman Hunt and Max Ernst.

Which is to say, if you like art, go; and if you want to try out a museum, this is a good place to start. Unless there's a popular exhibition on--and that hasn't happened for a while--this is a very quiet place. That's a shame for the institution and a lost opportunity, but a pleasure for those who take advantage...