Art of the Win: Kansas City museum delivers painting to Philly as part of Super Bowl wager

The Philadelphia Museum of Art has an extra Manet in its gallery for the next minimal months and they have the Eagles to thank for it On Wednesday The PMA received douard Manet s The Croquet Party on loan from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City as part of a friendly Super Bowl wager between the two institutions The Croquet Party an oil painting by Edourad Manet on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on a background of Kelly Green to celebrate the Eagles success Kimberly Paynter WHYY It feels good to win constantly But it also feels good to share our riches our collection and our audience with our colleagues from the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City Philadelphia Museum of Art Director and CEO Sasha Suda reported The Croquet Party depicts Manet s friends and family playing at a seaside resort in Boulogne France Both museums had ponied up paintings by the th century French modernist painter as the wager with the loser sending theirs to the winner for a inadequate months Had Kansas City won the Super Bowl the PMA would have sent The Folkestone Boat Boulogne to Missouri The two paintings hadn t been at the same location since The Folkestone Boat Boulogne around - an oil painting by Edouard Manet at the Philadelphia Museum of Art would have been on loan to Kansas City s Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art if the Eagles had lost the Super Bowl in Kimberly Paynter WHYY Now they share the same wall along with two other naval-themed paintings Manet did while on the same vacation period in coastal France in the Impressionists gallery with works by Monet Degas Rodin and Gaugin While the three PMA Manets are on the Blue Note-colored walls of the gallery like the other works the loaned painting was placed in front of a Kelly green panel with a not-so-subtle Eagles logo underneath it Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders and mascot Swoop pose with the Manet painting on loan from Kansas City s Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art after the Eagles won the Super Bowl in Kimberly Paynter WHYY Jennifer Thompson a curator of European paintings at PMA was tasked with choosing which two pieces should be wagered and revealed that the two museum s strong Impressionists collections particularly Manet though he never defined himself as an Impressionist made for an easy intersection She described seeing the similarities in the juxtaposed scenes next to each other as a phenomenal experience We started to see chosen of the same people even specific of the same dresses and garments and hats appearing in both pictures which is something I had never fully realized until the two pictures are seen side by side on our gallery walls Thompson commented Jennifer Thompson the Philadelphia Museum of Art s curator of European painting and sculpture explains why having Manet s The Croquet Party hung with his other seaside paintings is a unique viewing opportunity at a press conference on May Kimberly Paynter WHYY Like a multitude of bets there was various society shaming added to the wager The losing city s museum didn t just agree to send their valuable piece of artwork They had to send a delegation to hand-deliver it Juli n Zugazagoitia director and CEO of the Nelson-Atkins didn t see the trip as a punishment though The truth is that it is inevitably a contentment to share art with everyone and bringing one of our masterpieces to Philadelphia to be among its sisterworks of art that put all of this period of Manet in context is joyful he noted Suda and Zugazagoitia announced they were texting back-and-forth after every touchdown and big play during the Super Bowl They really started earlier in the NFL playoffs when it looked more and more likely that the rematch would happen When the Chiefs were playing the Bills I was on the edge of my seat and rooting on the Chiefs because of this friendly rivalry that we have Suda disclosed Juli n Zugazagoitia CEO of Kansas City s Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and Sasha Suda CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art stand for a photo with Manet s Croquet Party painting on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art to celebrate the Eagles success Kimberly Paynter WHYY The Eagles were gracious in domination and sent mascot Swoop and a group of cheerleaders to offer a sporting handshake to Zugazagoitia after Swoop was done sauntering around the priceless artworks and giving museum staff minor heart palpitations Museums have placed similar bets on and off since according to the Art Newspaper The PMA s first Museum Bowl wager was in with the Museum of Fine Arts Boston The Eagles first-ever Super Bowl title led to Mrs James Warren Mercy Otis by John Singleton Copley being sent to Philly for about three months Philly would have lent Benjamin West s Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky if Nick Foles hadn t pulled off the Philly Special and Brandon Graham didn t strip-sack Tom Brady When the Birds and Kansas City went head-to-head in the PMA had to pull Thomas Eakins Sailing out of storage and lug it to Missouri Several other Philly offices and organizations made similar friendly wagers with their Kansas City counterparts including the cities mayors school systems and zoos Even Pat s went up against Joe s Kansas City BBQ Sportsbooks BetMGM and Caesars both announced that this Super Bowl was the most-bet single sporting event in each of their histories But these two bettors sounded like there were no losers Last time around it was in our favor This time around it benefits Philadelphia So we re happy that we re - on this Zugazagoitia explained We can t wait for the next Super Bowl and we hope both of our teams are there Zugazagoitia even has particular artwork in mind to wager for the next Super Bowl sections of the ceiling from a th century Zhihua temple in Beijing that both the PMA and the Nelson-Atkins have in their collections The Croquet Party will be on view in Gallery until Aug Be sure to give a Go Birds after you re done admiring the masterful brushstrokes The post Art of the Win Kansas City museum delivers painting to Philly as part of Super Bowl wager appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY