Source: WTL photograph© at the Special Exhibition of "Paint the Revolution: Mexican Modernism 1910 - 1950," at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, December 13, 2016.

Image: This photo shows the façade of the main entrance--or eastern-facing front side--of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It was first established for the Philadelphia (bicentennial) Exposition of 1876. This is the entrance to the main museum building, which was completed in 1928. It attracts between a half million and one million visitors per year. It contains nearly 230,000 works of art. As you can see in this image, the architectural style features classical Greek columns with a (triangular) pediment at the top. Originally, the museum commissioned full-figure polychrome sculptures for this building's eight pediments, but only one was completed, that is the south-facing one (not shown) to the right of where the professor-photographer took this photo. This one pediment, by the American sculptor C. Paul Jennewein, called "Western Civilization" (1933), depicts Greek gods and various mythological figures.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art also administers other major museums such as (1) the Rodin Museum, which features works by Auguste Rodin; (2) the Perelman museum, which houses a large collection of modern and contemporary art; (3) historic colonial-era houses in various neighborhoods in and around Philadelphia.

Humanities Questions: How do you feel as you are about to enter (virtually) this particular museum, with its imposing classical style with banners proclaiming the title of the art exhibition you are about to tour centered on an image of Frida Kahlo, a quintessentially modern artist?