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Who was Charles Willson Peale?
Step into Peale's extraordinary world--painter, naturalist, museum founder, and patriarch of America's most influential artistic dynasty--with Dr. Wendy Bellion, Sewell C. Biggs Chair in American Art History at the University of Delaware, for an illuminating exploration of the Peale family's outsized impact on American art and culture.
At the heart of this talk is Peale's iconic self-portrait The Artist in His Museum (1822)—a masterwork that captures Peale lifting a curtain to reveal his Philadelphia Museum's natural history wonders, inviting viewers into a space where art, science, and civic education converge. But the Peale story doesn't end with Charles Willson. His children—Raphaelle, Rembrandt, Rubens, Titian, and more—carried forward his artistic legacy, each making distinct contributions to American portraiture, still life, and museum culture.
A Nation of Artists features at least nine works by Peale family members, and PAFA's reinstalled galleries spotlight their enduring influence on American visual culture. Dr. Bellion, a leading Peale scholar, reveals why this family mattered so deeply to the formation of American identity and why their work continues to speak powerfully today.
PAFA Members are invited to join us after the program for an exclusive gallery experience with Dr. Bellion and PAFA's Curator of Curator of Historical American Art. Members, register here →
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