Art Review: Caravaggio Exhibit at St. Petersburg MFA a Rare Baroque Event

Last month I did a coast-to-coast swing in Florida from Palm Beach to Sarasota and St. Petersburg. I’d never covered the arts in the state, though I’ve watched its arts scene evolve from rudimentary — early on, a project mostly for elderly, rich retirees from the Midwest — to refined and distinctive. I didn’t get to Miami, with high culture springing from a unique, polyglot population, but I found ample treasures in Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, and on the Gulf Coast. In between? The highway from West Palm Beach to Sarasota is long and straight, very flat, with cattle ranches and roadkill aplenty but not much else.

Today’s story focuses on the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg (MFA), a stately museum in a choice location on the downtown’s waterfront. I’d never been there. It bears repeating that among my NR missions is to cover art in all 50 states, a first for an American art critic. With my Florida pieces, I’m at 31. I hope to hit Minneapolis, Seattle, and Portland, Ore., next year, three cities with very good art museums but otherwise in extremis. Call it my Art for the Distressed and Disturbed Tour. More crazies per capita than Bedlam.

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Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

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Last month I did a coast-to-coast swing in Florida from Palm Beach to Sarasota and St. Petersburg. I’d never covered the arts in the state, though I’ve watched its arts scene evolve from rudimentary — early on, a project mostly for elderly, rich retirees from the Midwest — to refined and distinctive. I didn’t get to Miami, with high culture springing from a unique, polyglot population, but I found ample treasures in Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, and on the Gulf Coast. In between? The highway from West Palm Beach to Sarasota is long and straight, very flat, with cattle ranches and roadkill aplenty but not much else.

Today’s story focuses on the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg (MFA), a stately museum in a choice location on the downtown’s waterfront. I’d never been there. It bears repeating that among my NR missions is to cover art in all 50 states, a first for an American art critic. With my Florida pieces, I’m at 31. I hope to hit Minneapolis, Seattle, and Portland, Ore., next year, three cities with very good art museums but otherwise in extremis. Call it my Art for the Distressed and Disturbed Tour. More crazies per capita than Bedlam.