arts & entertainment

The Vero Beach Museum of Art is hosting Vero Collects: Hidden treasures Revealed, the Museum’s third curated collection exhibition, representing more than 50 local collectors and over 100 artworks. The exhibition will be on view through May 15, 2022.

An example of the art treasures in this exhibition includes an original Monet (pictured above) of a former custom house on the Normandy coast. It is one of more than 100 original works representing a wide range of artists, loaned to the Museum from private Vero Beach residences. The show offers a rare glimpse into artworks seen for the first time at the VBMA. It is a public view into the private world of collecting.

VBMA Senior Curator Anke Van Wagenberg, Ph.D., paid numerous visits and found profound enthusiasm for participation in the show at every turn. She was deeply impressed with not only the range of the collection activities as well as the passion and careful deliberation with which works were accumulated, as individual, substantial Kunstund Wunderkammers or cabinets of art and marvels. The exhibition is unique with several pairings of the collectors’ artwork with works in the museum’s collection. Focused on European and American art, the show includes world-renowned artists, from Claude Monet, Benjamin West, Hans Hofmann and Robert Rauschenberg to works on paper by Sol LeWitt, Pablo Picasso, and photography by Sebastião Salgado.

Twice before, the VBMA curated collection exhibitions, in 1996-1997 and in 2002-2003. Since then, many new collectors found their home in Vero Beach – and brought their art collections.

A catalogue accompanies the exhibition and is available for purchase in the Museum Store. To see this collection in person is an experience you will not soon forget.

For more information on Museum visitation guidelines, and hours please visit the website www.vbmuseum.org

The Vero Beach Museum of Art is located at 3001 Riverside Park Drive, Vero Beach, Florida 32963. Directions: From I-95 (Exit 147), from U.S. One, and Indian River Boulevard, take State Road 60 east over the Merrill Barber Bridge to beachside, turn right at first traffic light into Riverside Park.

Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926), Cabane des Douaniers a Varengeville (Custom House of Varengeville, 1882, oil on canvas, Private Collection, on loan to Vero Beach Museum of Art