Highlights from Nelson-Atkins Art Museum in Kansas City,pt 2

Across the grounds of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art lie four large shuttlecocks created by the husband-and-wife team of Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen; they are the world's largest shuttlecocks and the symbol for the museum

Portrait of the Artist's Sister (Mildred), Thomas Hart Benton, 1913; painted while still in art school, this piece was used as an illustration in Collier's magazine and earned Benton his first widespread publicity

Apple Blossoms, Georgia O'Keeffe, 1930; this is the typical close-up abstraction of a flower that we've come to know as an O'Keeffe

Black and White, Georgia O'Keeffe, 1930; while also painting her famous flowers, the artist also painted more abstract works like this piece inspired by the Texas plains (it's quite abstract!)

Gloucester Harbor, Winslow Homer, 1873; the artist is best known for his dark, brooding seascapes of the 1890s but I prefer his earlier works

Olive Trees, Vincent Van Gogh, 1889; this is one of 15 canvases dedicated to olive trees that the artist painted during his stay at an asylum in Saint Remy, France

The Temptation of St. Anthony, Hieronymus Bosch, 1510; people today may recognize the artist more for Michael Connelly's detective rather than the artist he was named after

Portrait of Paul Haviland, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1884; the museum had at least one painting by most of the leading French Impressionists

Young Man in a Black Beret, Rembrandt, 1662; the Nelson-Atkins is known for its encyclopedic collection of art from nearly every continent and culture, and especially for its extensive collection of Asian art

Zaire centerpiece bowl, Raymond Ruys, 1930; this piece combining African art with Art Deco style won the grand prize at the 1930 International Exposition

Woman Seated before a Black Background, Henri Matisse, 1942; the artist painted this work in the midst of WW2 and as he was recovering from surgery for stomach cancer

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art building's classical Beaux-Arts architecture style was modeled on the Cleveland Museum of Art; the snowy grounds of the museum contain the largest collection of monumental bronzes by Henry Moore in the United States

Fantasy Interior with Jan Steen and the family of Gerrit Schouten, Jan Steen, 1660; the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art opened in 1933 and has free admission

Marcel Duchamp Cast Alive, Marcel Duchamp, 1967; the artist was a chess master and, in the year before his death, cast his right forearm, hand and face in bronze for this work

Rose with Gray, Vasily Kandinsky, 1924; the artist had synesthesia so when he saw colors, he heard sounds, and when he heard sounds, he saw colors

White Lilacs in a Crystal Vase, Edouard Manet, 1883; in the last year of his life, the artist was confined to his home yet was able to paint amazing works of bouquets brought by friends

The Eruption of Vesuvius, Sebastian Pether, 1825; in this dramatic scene the artist is painting the historic eruption that destroyed Pompeii in 79 AD based on the only written, eyewitness account

Untitled, Miami Beach, Florida (5th Street Gym), Gordon Parks, 1966; this was my favorite photo from an exhibit by this famed Life magazine photographer

Still Life with Brushes, Shell and Star Fish, Roy Lichtenstein, 1972; known as the leading painter of the Pop Art movement, Lichtenstein offered a new take on the traditional still life in comic strip form