America’s most watched sports event kicks off on Sunday evening when the Seattle Seahawks take on the New England Patriots. Not to miss out on the action, the Seattle Art Museum and New England’s Clark Institute of Art have bet major artworks on their respective home teams taking home the title, Art Daily reports.
Each institution has wagered to loan a landscape painting depicting their respective coastlines for three months to the other. All shipping and expenses will be paid by the losing museum.
Albert Bierstadt Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast (1870)
Photo: Seattle Art Museum via Wikimedia Commons
Kimerly Rorschach, the director of the SAM, has put up Albert Bierstadt’s Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast (1870) while Michael Conforti, the director of the Clark Art Institute, has offered Winslow Homer’s West Point, Prout’s Neck (1900).
Both paintings are considered to be key examples of each artist’s finest work. Bierstadt’s Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast is a 8 ft. wide landscape which reflects how the sea and the unique terrain of the pacific northwest shaped the identity of its inhabitants. Homer’s West Point, Prout’s Neck is a painting based on the artist’s observations of the seascape off the coast of Maine where he spent the final years of his life. The painting juxtaposes the duplicity of nature’s beauty against its potentially overwhelming power.
A confident Rorschach told Art Daily “I am sure that this beautiful Homer painting will be coming to Seattle after our Seahawks defeat the Patriots for another Super Bowl win. We are already making plans to host this incredible work of American art in our galleries,” she said.
Winslow Homer West Point, Prouts Neck (1900)
Photo: Trzęsacz via Wikimedia Commons
Conforti was a little more humble. “The way we see it, nobody loses this wager,” he said. “Albert Bierstadt was raised in New Bedford, Massachusetts, so we will be very happy to welcome the work of a native son back to New England following the Patriot’s win on game day. Having just opened our new building, we’ve just the right spot to show this remarkable Bierstadt and know our visitors will love the chance to see it.”