Philbrook Museum of Art

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When you google things to do in Tulsa, the Philbrook Museum of Art is invariably listed as the #1 must-see attraction in Tulsa, or is routinely listed in the Top 10 Tulsa attractions. So of course I decided to add Philbrook to my list of things to do after the Woody Guthrie Center. The museum is housed in a 32,000 square foot Italianate villa, once the 72-room home of oil tycoon Waite Phillips (think Phillips 66), and is often described as the most elegant oil mansion constructed during the early Oklahoma oil boom. The neighborhood of the museum also appeared to be where the very wealthy of Tulsa live as the houses I passed by on the way to the museum were mansions that looked like they belonged on the Main Line.

When I arrived, I paid the admission fee and, upon striking up a conversation, learned that the receptionist at the admissions desk was a Tulsa native who had just graduated from Bryn Mawr College (and her name was Claire)! Of course, I told her I was from Philadelphia and that I was very familiar with Bryn Mawr College.

The museum was a wonderful respite from the usual road trip fare of kitschy museums, truck stops, long drives, and parks and hikes in the woods. It was nice to just casually stroll the museum galleries and soak in the art amid quiet. There was even a special exhibit on Salvador Dali, and his 12 illustrations for Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The museum's overall collections were quite impressive, as were the outside gardens, and I highly recommend a visit to Philbrook if you are ever in Tulsa.







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