Chrysler Museum of Art

The Chrysler Museum of Art is located at 245 West Olney Road, just across Brambleton Avenue from downtown Norfolk. Find your way with this interactive map. Closed Monday. Admission fee.

"The Quilts of Gee's Bend" and "Photography Speaks" temporary exhibitions were attracting numerous visitors when I toured the Chrysler Museum. They're the latest in an impressive series of exhibitions that augment the permanent collection and keep the attraction fresh.

Permanent galleries are arranged by period and style. Glass galleries take up a large portion of the first floor, and include early Roman glass to the modern work of Dale Chihuly. Stueben Glass Works vases, William Morris urns are impressive; as is a large stained glass window by Tiffany Studios (Portrait of Woman in a Pergola with Wisteria).

Fascinating objects large and small fill galleries of Greco-Roman, Indian, African, Egyptian, Asian, and Pre-Columbian work.

On the second floor, the galleries are from the 13th century to modern art. Bernini's last work is one of the many highlights. Ready for some name-dropping? How about Caliari, Rubens, van Dyck, and Boucher. Americans are well represented too -- Benjamin West, Albert Bierstadt, Edward Hicks, Winslow Homer, Thomas Cole, and Asher Durand.

The Impressionism gallery includes paintings from Renoir, Degas, Monet, Cassatt and other masters. Modern art leaves me cold, but there's a lot of it here and I'm sure it's of the finest quality. Photography and sculpture galleries complete the second floor collections.

Cuisine & Company (a Virginia Beach restaurant) has a table-service cafe on the first floor of the Chrysler Museum. The menu features tasty gourmet sandwiches, salads, soups, pastas and desserts. Open Wednesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Sunday 12 - 3 p.m.

The Chrysler Museum of Art is obviously worth a lengthy visit during any trip to Norfolk VA. The beautiful art is well presented in classy surroundings. See the official website of the Chrysler Museum of Art for more information.

Connoisseurs and casual visitors alike have long admired the American paintings, sculpture, and drawings on display at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia. Now for the first time, the collection's scope and detail are illuminated in a book. Rich in works by major artists, American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings is also impressive for its depth and as such offers a highly instructive glimpse into the progression of American art through the centuries.