Dear Friends and Members,

Individual collectors have long played a role in creating the Smithsonian we know today. Just consider some of Smithsonian Associates’ neighbors on the National Mall: The Freer Gallery of Art reflects Charles Lang Freer’s appreciation of the arts of Asia; Joseph Hirshhorn’s contemporary collections provided the spark for the museum that bears his name; and the National Museum of African Art found its nucleus in the collections of Warren M. Robbins, which he’d showcased in the Frederick Douglass House on Capitol Hill.

This month’s guide invites you into the fascinating world of private collectors. The curators at the William Louis-Dreyfus Foundation examine how the poet and businessman developed a remarkable and eclectic collection of nearly 4,000 works. His daughter, actor, producer, and activist Julia Louis-Dreyfus, offers an introduction to the program (p. 41). Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum reflects the personality and the passions of a visionary 19th-century patron. Its assistant curator shares stories of how Gardner assembled a collection unlike any other of the period (p. 35).

Businesswoman Marjorie Merriweather Post created an extravagant and elegant collector’s world in her Washington, D.C., estate Hillwood. Stroll through its themed gardens and rooms that dazzle with French and Russian decorative arts on a springtime visit (p. 56).

For even more dazzle, a live-from-Italy program follows the evolution of the Uffizi Gallery from a Medici-family showcase into one of the world’s most important museums. (p. 34). Once, many of Rome’s greatest art treasures could only be seen in private collections. View several that have transformed into public museums and learn how their artworks helped shape the Italian Renaissance (p. 34).

But there’s no need for a Medici budget to collect original art. The Smithsonian Associates Art Collectors Program is the perfect place to find your inspiration (p. 19). Hope to see you in a museum on the Mall this spring!

April 2023 On the cover: Image reprinted with permission from the cookbook Ever-Green Vietnamese; Photo © Aubrie Pick facebook.com/smithsonianassociates twitter.com/smithsonianSA instagram.com/smithsonianassociates issuu.com/smithsonianassociatesprograms