Berkshire County: Rural Intelligence

The Clark Art Institute in the Northern Berkshires has a collection of Renaissance and Impressionistic artwork that rivals the finest museums in the country. It's the private collection of the heir of the Singer Sewing Machine Company Robert Sterling Clark and his wife Francine. They travelled the world accruing masterpieces wherever they went always maintaining a particular fondness for Renoir.

Pierre-August Renoir,   Sleeping Girl with a Cat, 1880, oil on canvas

They stored these works for decades in their New York City home. It was only during the Cold War, when they feared for the safety of their art, that they moved them out to the countryside. They searched long and hard for the perfect location and fell in love with Williamstown, Massachusetts.

The town still maintains the charm and beauty it had then creating an optimal setting for the hundreds of expressive landscapes on display.