Sunday, my final day in Milwaukee, was spent wandering around the city and then going to the Milwaukee Museum of Art. The 3rd Ward is somewhat akin the Portland’s bougie Pearl District. MIAD (a fine design school) is located there as well as the Art Institute of Milwaukee. There’s a sweet public market in the area nestled among high end shops and bistros. Adam and I found the area to be close to dead on a Sunday morning, unfortunately. For our last afternoon in the city, we decided to split up. Adam continued to explore the city while I went to the museum.

MAM has a surprisingly world class collection, housed in one of the most beautiful buildings I’ve ever seen. Though the museum is somewhat modest in size, it’s Renaissance and Dutch painting collection is expansive. MAM’s modern and contemporary art collection has all the major players. However, it was their amazing American Folk Art collection that caught me by surprise and truly blew me away. Howard Finster, Grandma Moses, Josephus Farmer, Jim Lewis, Edgar Tolson, and Felipe Archuleta were represented alongside a huge collection of unknown artists, work purchased from flea markets and front lawns throughout the United States. I even purchased the catalog for this collection. Unfortunately, my camera died before I made it to the end of the exhibition.

The Milwaukee Museum of Art and its famous expanding wings.

Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, Italian painter c. 1650, Noah and the Animals Entering the Ark.

Jan Victors, Dutch painter. These painting date to 1650.

Portrait of a Woman, detail.

Sculpture by Tara Donovan!

Wayne Thiebaud!

Multiple color lithograph by Bruce Nauman. This is the CMY layer; the black layer is separate.

Painting by Kehinde Wiley.

Peter Jodocy, Uncle Sam Mailbox circa 1950s. This piece was donated to the museum from a private collection.