The Chrysler Museum of Art

This imposing Italian Renaissance building on The Hague inlet is Virginia's finest art museum. It is named for Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., who gave a large portion of his collection to the city. Today it spans artistic periods from ancient Egypt to the present and includes one of the finest and most comprehensive glass collections in the world. Also here is an outstanding collection of Art Nouveau furniture. Other first-floor galleries exhibit ancient Indian, Islamic, Asian, African, and pre-Columbian art. Most second-floor galleries are devoted to painting and sculpture, particularly Italian baroque and French, including works by Monet, Renoir, and Matisse. American art holdings include paintings by Charles Willson Peale, Benjamin West, John Singleton Copley, Thomas Cole, Thomas Hart Benton, Calder, Kline, and Warhol. A permanent gallery is devoted solely to photography. A free audio tour will explain some of the key items as you see them. Allow at least 2 hours here, half a day to do it complete justice.

The museum administers the Moses Myers House and the Norfolk History Museum .

How Norfolk Became an Art Mecca -- Built in 1932 as the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, the imposing Italian Renaissance building on The Hague inlet was a non-descript city museum until 1971. Then Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., idiosyncratic son of the motor company's founder, brought a large portion of his enormous art collection to Norfolk. Previously he had displayed it in the Chrysler Building in New York City, then in Provincetown, Massachusetts. When his relationship with Provincetown soured, he looked south to Norfolk, hometown of his second wife, Jean Outland Chrysler. At the time his collection was worth about $65 million. Today it's valued at approximately $1 billion. Chrysler, Jr., lived here until his death in 1988, whereupon he bequeathed the collection to the city. Author Peggy Earle tells the fascinating yarn in Legacy: Walter Chrysler Jr. and the Untold Story of Norfolk's Chrysler Museum of Art (University of Virginia Press).

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