“Have you ever imagined what it would have been like to live in Paris of the 1890s? Would you have spent your evenings in Montmartre, watching cancan dancers at the Moulin Rouge? Would you have mingled with the likes of Vincent van Gogh or Paul Cézanne? What would it have been like to be in the center of the art world at the brink of a new century?”
Read MoreHave you ever wondered about what is going on in a painting? What that daydreaming figure is thinking about? What story the artist is trying to tell? Have you ever spun an elaborate tale or envisioned what that conversation might be between those two very angry-looking people across a room?
Read MoreAre you ready for an "ooky spooky" art-filled Halloween celebration, the likes of which only the Polk Museum of Art could present?
Join your favorite Museum staff members as they entertain and educate you with ghoulish, spooky, and oh-so-strange stories inspired by some of the most famous pieces of art throughout history.
Read MoreJoin Dr. Alex Rich, Executive Director and Chief Curator, and Dr. Willem Hoogsteder, the owner and director of the Hoogsteder & Hoogsteder Gallery in The Hague, as they chat with you — our loyal members — LIVE and dive into the three-year journey behind the creation of Music & Dance and the intricate behind-the-scenes work Willem does to secure works that will enthrall us here in Florida.
Read More“Through A Brush With HerStory, my goal is to resurrect these artists from the shadows of history and the depths of dusty archives. Obstacles of the day — whether it was lack of training, family obligations, or the restraints placed by society upon their practice of painting — did not stand in the way of their craft. They were not the shining stars of art but were the quiet undercurrent that existed with little or no forum to rise above the premier art establishments of the era.”
Read MoreThe exhibition delves deeply into the art, history, and culture of the Netherlands in the 17th century, a period of great wealth and cultural achievement for the Dutch people. In what was then already called a Golden Age, the Netherlands was a world power whose military fleet was growing and where trade, science, and the arts flourished as never before.
Read MoreThis exclusive exhibition features works selected from the private collection of the SC Johnson Company, most of which have never before traveled outside The Council House, the company’s international conference center in Racine, Wisconsin. Featuring works in all media and crossing all stylistic and geographic boundaries, this Polk Museum original exhibition offers audiences a deep dive into rarely seen art from one of the most consequential decades in art history.
Read MoreThis exhibition is an examination of the spiritual objects themselves and their places within the cultures they come from and a story about the humanitarian work the Riches undertook in the process of acquiring the objects. The two histories are tied together intricately.
Read MoreExecutive Director and Chief Curator Dr. H. Alexander Rich discusses Inside the Masters' Studios: Richard Haas Dioramas.
Read MorePart of our permanent collection, Hungry Planet and Material World are two exhibitions focused on showing viewers the differences between countries around the world in what they eat and what they own.
Read MoreWe all know a Picasso when we see one. We can recognize a Pollock drip painting from far across a gallery. We know a Vermeer from a mile away. But what about the spaces in which these works were produced? Have you ever wondered where the magic happens? Where art history is literally made?
Read MoreSun + Light is a collection of works from the series Everyone Loves the Sunshine by contemporary visual artist Charles Edward Williams. The art in the Sun + Light juxtaposes Williams’ own personal encounters, past and present, with the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.
Read MorePainted Pages: Illuminated Manuscripts 13th to 18th Centuries features more than thirty works from medieval Bibles, prayer books, psalters, books of hours, choir books, missals, breviaries, and lectionaries as well as a selection of rare Hebrew and Arabic manuscripts.
Read MoreEdgar Degas is one of the most familiar “name” artists in the entire history of art — and, this winter, the Polk Museum is excited to bring Degas to Lakeland in a wide-ranging exhibition of privately-owned works entitled Edgar Degas: The Private Impressionist.
Read MoreKen Rollins, President of Rollins Fine Art and PMA Director (1981-1994), explores the life and inspiration of artist William Schaaf.
Read MoreExperience Chagall: Stories into Dreams as an audio tour. Look for the numbered prompts on the wall and on the identification labels.
This September, Chagall arrives at the Polk Museum of Art at Florida Southern College.
Read MoreThis September, the Polk Museum of Art at Florida Southern College proudly presents The Art of Romaine Brooks, a retrospective exhibition of a remarkable and under-acknowledged 20th century American artist.
Read MoreThe Von Wagner Code is a unique Polk Museum of Art curated exhibition inspired by the rediscovery of a damaged, long-lost painting on the Florida Southern College campus and the exciting search for answers about its origins.
Read MoreRead more on the exhibition, Double Vision: Photocentric Paintings by Richard Heipp.
Read MoreThe Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum of Art at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida
![[Essay] Toulouse-Lautrec and the Belle Époque](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55eeceede4b03487a6076b71/1612566131959-2DI5WQSEU3NMPA5GV7BC/ToulouseLautrec.jpg)
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![[Virtual] Ooky Spooky Nights with the Museum Staff + Friends!](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55eeceede4b03487a6076b71/1604078208759-XP8CPJZMP27LDQUT4Q7F/OokyImgOokySpookyTitle.png)
![[Virtual] Member Exclusive: An Evening with Dr. Willem Hoogsteder](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55eeceede4b03487a6076b71/1600190896204-9UKPK3UFHQOHQE4W0F1K/Boulevard_du_Temple_by_Daguerre.jpg)
![[Essay] The Paintings of Gabriela Gonzalez Dellosso](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55eeceede4b03487a6076b71/1612800819331-NMCQSMI67RKY20KMDBEJ/Dellosso_TheMentor.jpg)
![[Essay] Music & Dance in Painting of the Dutch Golden Age](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55eeceede4b03487a6076b71/1578606231034-O6PU75NHS64AT3K5F6EW/Herp+GE+030109-04.jpg)
![[Essay] Global Art of the 1970's: From the SC Johnson Collection](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55eeceede4b03487a6076b71/1573495171601-FGBWS2M2Z2ZDN2AMNC78/Cristobal+Toral%2C+Composition+of+Apples+in+Space%2C+1977%2C+Oil%2C+59x57.jpg)
![[Essay] Spirits: Ritual and Ceremonial African and Oceanic Art from the Dr. Alan and Linda Rich Collection](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55eeceede4b03487a6076b71/1563478361763-7K8I4Z32087PIF7LJINL/Mask%2C+Artist+Unknown.jpg)
![[Listen] Point of View Gallery Talk with Dr. H. Alexander Rich](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55eeceede4b03487a6076b71/1562676649892-GYSF3GVEWV62NX96HS66/_GWM0815-SMALL.jpg)
![[Audio] Hungry Planet & Material World Audio Guide](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55eeceede4b03487a6076b71/1552312432522-D5ZWBG48MAT4RIGB9U9K/download%2B%281%29.jpg)
![[Essay] Inside the Masters' Studios: Richard Haas Dioramas](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55eeceede4b03487a6076b71/1550077725401-L1AT4JAV10Y0S5SDH7ET/Broome+Street+Looking+East+Diorama+Box.jpg)
![[Essay] Sun + Light](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55eeceede4b03487a6076b71/1550077391311-ZDG9TRRFFV436JMPRPTT/american%2Bdream1%2B%2528Mobile%2529.jpg)
![[Essay] Painted Pages: Illuminated Manuscripts from the 13th to 18th Centuries](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55eeceede4b03487a6076b71/1550076328387-061GTTINVDL11I9LOS8W/1932.377.1+HIGH+RES.jpg)
![[Essay] Edgar Degas: The Private Impressionist](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55eeceede4b03487a6076b71/1544460212112-9FBYCVG501CHJ05FN0TX/degas.png)
![[Essay] An Artist and His Muse](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55eeceede4b03487a6076b71/1541698842803-MK6OYT86CX412RJTVSQV/Chinese+Rainbow.jpg)
![[Essay] Chagall: Stories into Dreams](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55eeceede4b03487a6076b71/1543253794410-PBN01DBLPM8JSY4VXK6Q/ChagallBanner-01.png)
![[Essay] The Art of Romaine Brooks](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55eeceede4b03487a6076b71/1534441040554-JFNUX7S1X8BOGYCEELIO/Romaine+Brooks%2C+%E2%80%98Ida+Rubinstein%2C%E2%80%99+1917%2C+Oil+on+canvas.jpg)
![[Audio] The Von Wagner Code Audio Guide](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55eeceede4b03487a6076b71/1530115123963-327NQUERLTT23T9IWZFG/OriginalEDIT.jpg)
![[Essay] Double Vision: Photocentric Paintings by Richard Heipp](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55eeceede4b03487a6076b71/1529004382652-QG1L7RJCVON919WWX4QB/_GWM5338-SMALL.jpg)