ST. PETERSBURG, FL — The Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, is putting a Monet on the line to back the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series.
The museum has entered a friendly wager with the Milwaukee Art Museum, with each institution pledging to lend a Claude Monet painting to the hometown of the winning team, according to an MFA news release.
If the Rays defeat the Milwaukee Brewers in the series, St. Petersburg will welcome Milwaukee's "Waterloo Bridge, Sunlight Effect," painted around 1900. If the Brewers win, the MFA will send its "Houses of Parliament: Effect of Fog, London," painted in 1904, to Milwaukee.
Game 1 of the World Series takes place Friday evening in Milwaukee, where the second game of the series is also scheduled for Saturday night. The series then moves to Tropicana Field, where the Rays will host the third and fourth games, as well as Game 5, if it's needed.
Kim Sajet, Donna and Donald Baumgartner director of the Milwaukee Art Museum, initiated the wager, according to the news release.
"When I moved to Milwaukee, I became a part of the Brew Crew. They're the best team in baseball, and I'm backing them with one of our most beloved paintings. Two Monets will look incredible in our galleries," she said in a statement.
Klaudio Rodriguez, executive director and CEO of the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, quickly accepted the bet.
"We admire Kim's enthusiasm, but we think Milwaukee's Monet would enjoy a little Florida vacation," he said in a statement. "We're backing the Rays all the way, and we're ready to welcome Milwaukee's masterpiece to St. Petersburg. Let's see Milwaukee put its Monet where its mouth is."
The MFA has put its Monet on view in an upstairs gallery while its collection galleries remain temporarily closed for the museum's Art Unbound reinstallation, scheduled to conclude Nov. 21.
"Although our collection galleries are closed, we wanted to share the Monet during this rivalry," Stanton Thomas, the MFA's chief curator, said in a statement. "For visiting Brewers fans, it might be their only chance to see it."
The wager is a temporary loan, not a transfer of ownership, the MFA said in the news release. Both museums will retain their paintings, and exhibition dates will be announced after the World Series.
The MFA's "Houses of Parliament: Effect of Fog, London" depicts the British Parliament buildings through the atmospheric light and color that helped make Monet a leading figure in the Impressionist movement.
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