Visit Wadsworth Atheneum with Zimmerli

Visit the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Conn., on Wednesday, June 12, on the last bus trip of the academic year with the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers. Christine Giviskos, the Zimmerli’s Associate Curator of European Art, provides additional insight to the docent-led tour.

The bus departs promptly at 7:30 a.m. from the Sears parking lot on Route 1 in New Brunswick and returns by 7 p.m. The cost of the trip – which includes transportation, admission, and lunch – is $135 for members and $155 for nonmembers.

Please call (848) 932-6771 or email jdauguste@zimmerli.rutgers.edu to register by May 17.

The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, the oldest public art museum in the United States, was founded in 1842 by Daniel Wadsworth, one of the first important American patrons of the arts. Upon arrival, receive a docent-led tour of the special exhibition: “Burst of Light: Caravaggio and His Legacy,” which examines the enduring legacy of the renowned painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio and his tremendous influence on 17th-century art. In addition to five works by Caravaggio – including “St. Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy” and “Salome Receives the Head of St. John the Baptist” – the exhibition spotlights nearly 30 paintings by his followers throughout Europe, known as “Caravaggisti.” These works reveal Caravaggio’s impact in the use of dramatic lighting, emotionally compelling compositions, genre scenes, and religious themes in works by such artists as Artemisia Gentileschi, Jusepe de Ribera, Michiel Sweerts, and Francisco de Zurbarán,

The group enjoys lunch at The Museum Café, located inside the museum. It is operated by Healthy Source Catering, owned by veteran chef and Knox Foundation award winner, Marty Pushkarewicz. Lunch includes a salad, a chicken or eggplant entrée, a choice of dessert, and soft drinks. 

Following lunch, visitors explore the museum’s permanent collection at their own pace. Daniel Wadsworth planned to establish “a Gallery of Fine Arts,” but he was persuaded to establish an “atheneum,” a term used in the 19th century for a cultural institution with a library, as well as works of art and artifacts, devoted to history, literature, art, and science. The collection of nearly 50,000 works of art spans 5,000 years. Among the special collections are: the Morgan collection of Greek and Roman antiquities and European decorative arts; the Wallace Nutting collection of American colonial furniture and decorative arts; Hudson River School landscapes; European and American Impressionist paintings; African American art and artifacts; the Serge Lifar collection of Ballets Russes drawings and costumes; and the George A. Gay collection of prints. In addition, the Wadsworth spotlights masterpieces representing the baroque, surrealist, modernist, and contemporary periods, as well as costumes and textiles.

The Zimmerli Art Museum is located at 71 Hamilton St. at George Street on the College Avenue campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick. The Zimmerli is a short walk from the NJ Transit train station in New Brunswick, midway between New York City and Philadelphia.

Hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., and the first Wednesday of each month (except August), 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. The museum is closed Mondays, major holidays, and the month of August. 

Admission is $6 for adults; $5 for 65 and over; and free for museum members, children under 18, and Rutgers students, faculty, and staff (with ID). Admission is free on the first Sunday of every month. For more information, call (848) 932.7237 or visit the museum’s website: www.zimmerlimuseum.rutgers.edu