What You'll Get
Like a mirror, art reflects the beauty of the world around us, reveals who we truly are, and can contain a lot of naked people. Step into a funhouse of art-mirrors with today's Groupon: for $30, you get an individual one-year membership ($45 value), one guest pass (up to $10 value), and member admission to two films ($14 value) at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art (a $69 total value) on Main Street.
As a pioneer of public museums in the United States, the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art remains a flagship institution, as evinced by its “Best Museum” win in the Hartford Advocate 's 2010 "Best of Hartford" Reader's Poll. Use your free admission to check out current exhibitions like American Moderns and MATRIX, or survey the Hudson River School paintings, the museum’s most celebrated collection, which captures the untouched beauty of America’s nineteenth century wilds while avoiding the herds of feral Victorians that depleted the Great Plains with their ceaseless grass chewing. A pioneer of avant-garde exhibition, the Wadsworth Museum also boasts some of the first Renaissance works acquired in the United States by Caravaggio, as well as one of the first Surrealist masterpieces by Dalí. The illustrious Spaniard’s “Apparition of Face and Fruit Dish on a Beach” is a wonderful example of the early 20th century discovery that brains are the same thing as pears.
Adjacent to the museum’s soft downy gallery wings sits the Aetna Theater, an intimate Art Deco-style venue that features international and classic independent and art films throughout the lunar cycle. Check out the 2010 Fall Film Program for upcoming shows. Additional membership perks include discounts at the museum shop and café, as well as eligibility to join special interest groups associated with the museum, like the Auerbach Library Associates a forum for bibliophiles and the paper cut-laden people who love them. The museum’s Phoenix Art After Hours event, free to all museum members, promises conviviality every first Thursday of the month through the artistic mediums of cocktails, music, and film. Children age 12 and under receive free admission when accompanied by an adult.
Reviews
Frommer's profiled and reviewed the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, rating it "exceptional." The Hartford Advocate named the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art the "Best Museum" as part of its 2010 "Best of Hartford" Reader's Poll list. Yelpers rate the museum an average of 4.5 stars, and nearly 4,000 Facebookers are fans.
- Opened in 1842, this was the first public art museum in the United States and remains a repository with few equals in New England. – Frommer's
- You'll be astounded at how much you will recognize and enchanted by anything you might not. The Hudson River School collection is incredible. The layout, lighting, design and curating of the galleries is exceptional. – Josh F., Yelp
The Fine Print
Promotional value expires Nov 12, 2011. Amount paid never expires. Limit 1 per person, may buy 1 additional as a gift. Must activate membership by 11/12/11, membership expires 1 year from activation date. New members only; not valid toward renewals. Must redeem at museum. Tax and gratuity not included. Merchant is solely responsible to purchasers for the care and quality of the advertised goods and services.