How a ”Most Typical Victorian Daughter” Found Freedom in the Radical Art of Her Time

Society ridiculed the modern art she loved, so Lillie P. Bliss set out to create a museum to house it.

It might be hard to imagine, but there was a time when the work of modern artists like Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, and Paul Cézanne was ridiculed by the public. Despite all the criticism, three women founded a museum dedicated to art that was new. In this edition of the Magazine podcast, we explore the life and work of Lillie P. Bliss, one of MoMA’s three founders and a passionate advocate for modern art. Bliss is also the subject of MoMA’s exhibition Lillie P. Bliss and the Birth of the Modern. Described by her niece as “the most typical Victorian daughter,” the dutiful Bliss nonetheless defied not only society but her parents by going on to build an art collection that became the cornerstone of The Museum of Modern Art.

Access a transcript of the conversation here: https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/1169