Art museums betting on the Super Bowl!
Impressionism and the Super Bowl might seem like strange bedfellows, but they will be getting a little bro time together this year in the spirit of the game. Continuing an art tradition that began last year, the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh and the Milwaukee Art Museum (the closest museum to Green Bay, Wisc., home of the Packers), have agreed to make a gridiron bet. If Green Bay wins, the Carnegie will send Pierre Renoir’s “Bathers with a Crab” from the 1890s to Milwaukee as a temporary loan. If the Steelers win, the Carnegie’s patrons will get a brief visit from a Gustave Caillebotte, another water-focused scene titled “Boating on the Yerres” from 1877. (via Wagering Art Loans on the Super Bowl – NYTimes.com)
Last year, after the Saints’ win over the Colts, the Indianapolis Museum of Art loaned a painting by J.M.W. Turner to the New Orleans Museum of Art.