The Phillips Collection is a small, yet amazingly good collection of 19th and 20th century art in Washington, D.C.. It is located in the Dupont Circle area, on 21st. St., between Q and R Streets. It has a web site at www.phillipscollection.org
Duncan Phillips, with his mother, started the Phillips Collection in 1918, after the death of his father and brother, in his 1897 home. In 1930, the family moved out of the house and formally made it into a museum. The museum includes many important impressionist and post-impressionist works, far more than one might expect for a collection of the size.
Much of the beauty of the collection is a direct result of the size - the works are of the highest quality, and they are on a scale that feels comfortable. The museum still retains much of the feel of a home - small rooms without too many visitors, comfortable chairs to sit in and really enjoy the art, and an overall design that just feels more comfortable that a big museum - it is a work done on a human scale.