The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in 1937 for the American people by a joint resolution of the United States Congress.
Established 1937; 87 years ago (1937) Location National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C., U.S. Coordinates 38°53′29″N 77°1′12″W / 38.89139°N 77.02000°W / 38.89139; -77.02000 Visitors 3,256,433 (2022) – ranked First among U.S. art museums, seventh globally
Collection size 75,000 prints
...
Visit
The National Gallery of Art is free to all visitors and is open seven days a week and is located between 3rd Street and 9th Street on Constitution Avenue, NW.
About the National Gallery
The National Gallery of Art, founded as a gift to the nation, serves as a center of visual art, education, and culture. Our collection of more than 150,000 paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, photographs, prints, and drawings spans the history of Western art and showcases some of the triumphs of human creativity. Across 363 days a year, the National Gallery offers a full spectrum of special exhibitions
...
and public programs free of charge.
National Gallery History
Establishing the Museum
The National Gallery of Art was conceived and given to the people of the United States by Andrew W. Mellon, a financier and art collector who served as secretary of the treasury under four presidents from 1921 to 1932. During his years as a public servant, Mellon came to believe that the United States should have a world-class national art museum comparable to those of other
...
nations. In 1936 Mellon wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt to offer his gift of paintings and sculpture for a new museum in Washington, DC, that he would build and finance with his own funds. Roosevelt endorsed Mellon’s offer, and Congress accepted his gift in 1937.
Construction of the West Building
Mellon selected American architect John Russell Pope (1874–1937) to design the building for the new museum. Now called the West Building, it was designed in a neoclassical style that mirrors elements of Pope’s designs for the nearby National Archives building and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. The exterior was constructed with Tennessee pink marble, and Pope specified that skylights should cover virtually the entire three-acre roof to illuminate and unite the galleries.
Mellon and Pope died within 24 hours of each other in August 1937, not long after excavation for the West Building’s foundations had begun, but the museum was built according to their concepts. The National Gallery was dedicated on March 17, 1941, with Paul Mellon presenting the museum on behalf of his father to President Roosevelt, who accepted the gift for the nation.
