An Invitation to LOOK

An Invitation to LOOK brings more than forty works from the Bass Museum of Art’s permanent collection together in a presentation that takes a brief pause from the conventional museum approach of arranging works according to art historical or theoretical systems. This exhibition will feature a group of portraits spanning 300 years, painted in varying styles by English, American, Dutch, French and German artists. Additionally, a grouping of Impressionist works by French painter Jean-Baptiste Armand Guillaumin will share the galleries with 19th century Austrian still life paintings and 15th century devotional paintings and small etchings by Rembrandt. Selections from the Bass Museum’s impressive group of 14th century Flemish and Italian altarpieces will join devotional statuary of the Madonna as well as one of the jewels of the collection, the Coronation of the Virgin with Saints by Sandro Botticelli and Domenico Ghirlandaio.

In 1963 John and Johanna Bass donated their collection to the City of Miami Beach, a generous gift which has brought discovery and joy to thousands of visitors in the nearly fifty years since. For those who have never been to the Bass Museum of Art, An Invitation to LOOK provides an opportunity to see one of the most significant collections of Renaissance and Baroque art available in South Florida. For those who are familiar with the collection, An Invitation to LOOK is a chance to see these works in a whole new light – works installed not just to illuminate the mind – but to stimulate the senses.