Art in the President's suite

JFK death art to go on display

Monets and van Goghs in the presidential suite at the time of his assassination to feature in Dallas show

The Dallas Museum of Art has a very unusual show opening next May. In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death of John F. Kennedy, the museum has lined up “Hotel Texas: An Art Exhibition for the President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy,”  featuring artwork that was in the Kennedy's suite at The Texas Hotel, Forth Worth  - the last place they stayed before the president's assassination.

Fort Worth collectors put together a special collection of paintings and sculpture in the lead up to the president’s visit in 1963. So in suite 850 at the Hotel Texas, there were paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Thomas Eakins and Franz Kline, and sculptures by Pablo Picasso and Henry Moore. 

It was apparently put together as a three-part show intended to run from room to room. Claude Monet in the parlour, Impressionist masterworks in the master bedroom (apparent favourite of the first lady) and Marsden Hartley in the second bedroom—the president’s room. “It’s not a story about death. It’s a story about art and love,” curator of show Olivier Meslay, told The Washington Post which has the whole story. Macabre or a marvelous piece of curating? What do you think?