Just like many Kansas Citians, the folks at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art put their faith in the Chiefs and bet our hometown team would bring home the Lombardi trophy from the Super Bowl.
Unlike most Kansas Citians, the museum made a bet with the Philadelphia Museum of Art, agreeing that the losing city’s museum had to loan a work of art to the winning city’s museum.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art came through, and now The Nelson has a temporary new addition to its American galleries: Sailing, a painting by Thomas Eakins.
“It is with great pride that we put Sailing on view so that our city can once again celebrate the Chief’s exciting Super Bowl win,” says Julián Zugazagoitia, CEO and director of the Nelson-Atkins. “In this classic American painting, Philadelphia artist Thomas Eakins celebrates the joy of movement as two friends glide across the Schuylkill River. The power and motion conveyed in this painting is not so different from the vigor and grace that America’s championship athletes, our beloved Chiefs, displayed in their nail-biting triumph over the Eagles.”
The painting will be on display through June, and staff from the Philadelphia Museum of Art will visit The Nelson in mid-May to chat about the significance of the painting.