Portrait, Patron, Muse: Women in the Dixon Collection explores the various ways in which women have shaped the Dixon’s prestigious permanent collection.  The idea for the exhibition originated with the Dixon’s recent purchase of Jacques-Émile Blanche’s Portrait of Eugenia Huici Arguedas de Errázuriz from 1890, a fascinating example of belle époque portraiture.  Inspired by Errázuriz’s simultaneous role as subject of a portrait, patron of the arts, and muse to several of the most revered artists of her time, the Dixon has reexamined many of the works of art in the permanent collection that feature women, either in commissioned portraiture or more intimate figure studies.  From rustic peasant women to glamorous society queens, Portrait, Patron, Muse celebrates the way one acquisition can almost become a muse in its own right, and inspire us to look differently at works of art we think we know well.  The exhibition features examples by Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Jean-Louis Forain, Auguste Rodin, and many others.