Philip Kennicott

Washington, D.C.

Art and architecture critic

Education: Deep Springs College; Yale, BA in Philosophy

Philip Kennicott is the Pulitzer Prize-winning art and architecture critic of The Washington Post. He has been on staff at The Post since 1999, first as classical music critic, then as culture critic. In 2011, he combined art and architecture into a beat focused on visual culture and public space.
Latest from Philip Kennicott

‘The Impressionist Moment’ is a smart, bracing and unmissable art show

‘Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment’ puts the origins of an art movement in proper context.

September 11, 2024
Visitors take in the “Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment” at the National Gallery of Art on Friday. (Tierney L. Cross for The Washington Post)

A master of melodrama, now forgotten, but never more relevant

A rare production of Giacamo Meyerbeer’s cataclysmic opera “Le Prophète” at Bard SummerScape proves we live in a melodramatic age.

August 21, 2024
Jennifer Feinstein (Fidès) and Robert Watson (Jean de Leyde) perform in the Bard SummerScape production of Giacomo Meyerbeer's “Le Prophète.”

Where the Declaration was penned, new eyes project an uneasy history

Sonya Clark’s “The Descendants of Monticello” celebrates the house where Jefferson framed America’s independence.

August 12, 2024
Eyes look out the windows of Declaration House in Philadelphia as part of an art installation by Sonya Clark.

Speaking of weird, Rip Van Winkle has been on my mind a lot lately

He’s the subject of one of my favorite paintings. But I don’t get naming a motel after him.

August 7, 2024
The Rip Van Winkle Motel as seen from the road in Warrenton, Va., in June. The motel still maintains much of its original retro charm.

She was a great artist. And a woman of privilege.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art explores the beloved work of Mary Cassatt.

July 25, 2024
Mary Cassatt's “Woman and Child Driving” (1881).

The Republican convention was weird. Then they played Beethoven.

After four days of sonic Americana, Melania Trump chose a musical icon of Europe for her entrance.

July 19, 2024
Former first lady Melania Trump waves to the crowd as she walks to the VIP box on the final night of the Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.

A powerful photograph that could change America forever

In an instant Saturday, the ability to sort reality from image became more difficult.

July 14, 2024
Former president Donald Trump is surrounded by Secret Service agents at a campaign rally on Saturday in Butler, Pa.

Bill Viola, artist and navigator, left a world drenched in beauty

A near-death experience forged an artist profoundly wise about death, and life.

July 13, 2024
Bill Viola in 2016 with “Mary,” his second video installation at St Paul's Cathedral.

Jenny Holzer won’t let us forget the power of words

‘Jenny Holzer: Light Line’ at the Guggenheim surveys some six decades of the conceptual artist’s bracing, text-based art.

July 13, 2024
Part of the Guggenheim exhibition “Jenny Holzer: Light Line” includes scrolling text along the balconies of the museum's central atrium.

Trump is already numbing us to the horrific images his plans would create

Outrage never lasts. That’s why Trump wants to show us the worst before he does it.

July 2, 2024
America came of age with the development of photography, and images of suffering have galvanized political ideas and sentiment. If you can see them.