Small Galleries in Big Cities

Sometimes the enormity of the world's great art galleries can be exhausting and overwhelming. There is so much to look at in the Louvre, where do you start? At such times a couple of hours in a small, more focussed collection can be invigorating and relaxing at the same time. Here is a list of some of my personal favorites.

The Neue Galerie
1048 Fifth Avenue (at 86th Street).
New York
If there is a more enjoyable museum experience anywhere, I cannot name it. Located in an Upper East Side mansion, the gallery contains a wonderful collection of 19th and 20th century German and Austrian art. The permanent collection houses important works by Klimt, Schiele, Beckmann and many others. There is always a similarly themed temporary exhibition, the current one titled "Vienna 1900: Style and Identity." The restaurant is a Viennese cafe, with period decoration by Loos, Hofmann, and Otto Wagner. Not to be missed.

Gustave-Moreau Museum
14, rue de La Rochefoucauld
Paris
The Symbolist painter created his own museum in his studio in 1896. It houses many important Moreau paintings, and over 4000 drawings. His apartment on the premises was closed to visitors for a hundred years (!), but is now open.

Leighton House
12 Holland Park Road
London
The home of the Victorian paintere Frederic Leighton, designed to display his immense collection of Middle Eastern tiles and other decorative items. The "Arab Hall" with tile work by William de Morgan is alone worth a visit.

Suan Prakad Palace
352-354 Sri Ayudhya Road
Rajathevi, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand
A fabulous collection of Thai pottery, lacquer, sculpture and architectural remnants located in the former home of a Thai princess. Bangkok is a crazy place, but the Suan Prakad Palace is a haven of beauty and serenity.

The Freer Gallery
Jefferson Drive at 12th St SW
Washington, D.C.
This one is not exactly small, but I love one part so much that I have to include it. James McNeill Whistler's masterpiece of decoration, the Peacock Room, which he designed for a London automobile magnate, was disassembled and brought to Detroit in 1904. The Smithsonian got it later, and now anyone can sit sit quietly completely surrounded by Whistler' dream of Japan.

Does anyone else have a favorite small gallery? Let me know about it!