Art from JFK's last day


 

On the morning of Nov. 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy realized that their Fort Worth hotel suite featured an extraordinary array of artwork, including a painting by Vincent van Gogh and a bronze by Pablo Picasso.

A group of prominent Fort Worth citizens had scrambled to put together the collection in the days leading up to the president's fateful Texas visit, transforming an otherwise plain suite into something special.

Next year, almost all of those works the couple admired in their last private moments before President Kennedy was assassinated will be on display at the Dallas Museum of Art in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of his death.

"It's not a story about death. It's not a story about hate. It's a story about art and love, which I think is a very good tribute to the Kennedys. It's all about their love of art," said Olivier Meslay, associate director of curatorial affairs at the museum and the exhibition's curator.