‘Rocky’ setting, Philadelphia is a destination for art and history lovers – 05/17/2023 – Tourism

More than 45 years have passed since Rocky Balboa ran triumphantly up the stairs of Philadelphia’s premier art museum in the movie “Rocky” (1976). On a late summer afternoon, local athletes and tourists repeated the feat, finishing the 72 steps with their arms raised, ready for the perfect photo.

Every Friday and the first Sunday of the month, the Philadelphia Museum of Art is free after 5pm. That’s when many finish the cinematic run and stop in a long line to get there.

Philly, nickname for the city of 1.5 million inhabitants, is in the minds of moviegoers because of the boxer, but it is also on the map of art enthusiasts, especially devotees of Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), one of the most radicals of the early 20th century.

The museum has the largest collection of works by Duchamp in the world, thanks to a donation in 1950 by the American collector Walter Conrad Arensberg (1878-1954), friend and patron of Duchamp, who moved to the USA in 1915.

People from all over the world make a pilgrimage to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to see his last and most mysterious work, “Étant Donnés”, seen only through two small holes in a wooden door, practically hidden in the museum. Behind her is the body of a woman in the grass holding a lamp, perhaps resting or perhaps mutilated. Her torso was based on Duchamp’s girlfriend, the Brazilian sculptor Maria Martins (1894-1973).

“Étant Donnés” was created in secret over more than 20 years in the artist’s studio in New York, when his friends believed that Duchamp had given up the arts to dedicate himself to chess. A year after his death, using detailed instructions left by the artist himself, the museum permanently installed the work, denying any loan requests.

Also “The Great Glass”, another important work by Duchamp from the 1920s, does not leave the museum, although there are replicas that circulate in international exhibitions. “The Fountain” (1917), its famous porcelain urinal and one of the symbols of Dadaism, was destroyed, but the museum keeps the oldest replica made by Duchamp, as well as other important works, such as his scandalous painting “Nude Descending a Staircase ” (1912).

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is also home to the largest collection of the sculptor Auguste Rodin outside Paris and displays works by Monet, Léger, Van Gogh, Turner and Rubens. At the end of the tour, don’t forget to visit the Rocky statue on the left side at the end of the staircase (or right for those who go up).

Just as you have to travel to Philly to see “Étant Donnés”, only in the city is it possible to see the works of the Barnes Foundation, which never leave the institution or even the rooms for which they were designated by its founder, Albert C. Barnes (1872). -1951), an art collecting chemist.

In four decades, he acquired 181 works by Renoir, forming the largest collection by the French artist in the world. He did the same with Cézanne, of whom the museum has a record 69 works, including “The Card Players”.

The space is a rare museum experience: Barnes liked to hang the works on the walls, mixing periods such as Impressionist paintings alongside medieval art, as well as combining everything with period furniture and metalwork, such as trowels and door hinges. Thus, he created large symmetrical arrangements according to their colors, lights and lines, principles that he called the “universal language of art”. The works do not have subtitles: you must accompany them with a separate pamphlet.

The paintings are displayed exactly as Barnes left them when he died in 1951. In 2012, they were moved to a new foundation space, maintaining their original order.

Like other cities on the American East Coast, Philadelphia has a lot of history to tell about the founding of the USA. It was here that the “founding fathers” met to debate and sign the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and, a decade later, to write the country’s Constitution.

The hall where representatives of the 13 American colonies met to seal the future of the region is located in Independence Hall, a carefully preserved brick building. The visit is free and always happens with a guide.

References to Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) also help recall the region’s historic past. A museum dedicated to his life adjoins his former home grounds and a recreated 18th-century print shop, which shows how the political pamphlets of the time, a Franklin specialty, were made.

But Philly doesn’t smell like mothballs. After all, it was here that David Bowie (1947-2016) chose to record part of his album “Young Americans” (1975), at Sigma Sound Studios. Unfortunately, the studio did not have the same luck as the historic buildings and today only a plaque remains on the site.

The city buzzes with dozens of breweries, such as Evil Genius Beer Company, and cider houses, such as Original 13 Ciderworks, as well as the Barcade, where you can drink beer and cider and play more than 60 arcade machines.

To try the famous philly cheesesteak, a sandwich with thin slices of steak and melted cheese, the best option is to get lost in the Reading Terminal Market, a historic indoor market, which dates back to the late 19th century. Among the local food vendors, Miller’s Twist sells a different cheesesteak wrapped in a warm pretzel that melts in your mouth. Long live culinary freedom.