Art Review: Toledo Museum of Art a Treasure Trove

I hadn’t visited the Toledo Museum of Art in years. Shame on me. The collection there is splendid, with encyclopedic range and surprising depth. It’s on a lovely campus in the Old West End, a neighborhood of princely Victorian homes where Toledo’s movers and shakers once lived.

Toledo’s not the easiest place to access. It’s a 90-minute drive from Cleveland, but otherwise not near anything. Knowing this, the museum’s founders and subsequent leaders stewarded a self-contained palace of culture. Antiquities, American heavy hitters, Dutch and Italian Old Masters, Impressionism, and contemporary art bring the world to Toledo in a meaningful, satisfying way.

About the Author

Brian T. Allen

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

I hadn’t visited the Toledo Museum of Art in years. Shame on me. The collection there is splendid, with encyclopedic range and surprising depth. It’s on a lovely campus in the Old West End, a neighborhood of princely Victorian homes where Toledo’s movers and shakers once lived.

Toledo’s not the easiest place to access. It’s a 90-minute drive from Cleveland, but otherwise not near anything. Knowing this, the museum’s founders and subsequent leaders stewarded a self-contained palace of culture. Antiquities, American heavy hitters, Dutch and Italian Old Masters, Impressionism, and contemporary art bring the world to Toledo in a meaningful, satisfying way.