LESS THAN AN HOUR?
National Gallery of Art, Washington
West Building Highlights
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This short tour details highlights of
the National Gallery of Art collection,
with information on the reverse of
this sheet. Note that some works
of art may be temporarily off view,
so please enjoy the other works on
display. Do not touch works of art;
maintain a one-foot distance.
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www.nga.gov
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Raphael, The Niccolini-Cowper
Madonna, 1508 Gallery 20
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Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Shaw
Memorial, 1900 Gallery 66
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Rogier van der Weyden, Portrait
of a Lady, c. 1460 Gallery 39
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Childe Hassam, Allies Day, May 1917,
1917 Gallery 70
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Rembrandt van Rijn, The Mill,
1645/1648 Gallery 48
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Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait,
1889 Gallery 83
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Paul Cézanne, The Peppermint
Bottle, 1893/1895 Gallery 84
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Claude Monet, Rouen Cathedral,
West Façade, Sunlight, 1894 Gallery 87
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Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi,
The Adoration of the Magi,
c. 1440 / 1460 Gallery 4
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Johannes Vermeer, A Lady Writing,
c. 1665 On view in Ground Floor
Gallery 13A
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Leonardo da Vinci, Ginevra
de’ Benci, c. 1474 / 1478 Gallery 6
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Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres,
Madame Moitessier, 1851 Gallery 56
West Building, Main Floor
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Rotunda
West Sculpture Hall
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Lobby C
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Lobby B
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Lobby A
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To East
Building
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Art
Micro
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Founders
Room
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Mall Entrance
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Lobby D
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Information
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LESS THAN AN HOUR?
West Building Highlights
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Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi
The Adoration of the Magi,
c. 1440 / 1460
Gallery 4
Epiphany, marking the Magi’s discovery
of the Christ child, was an occasion
for lavish pageantry in Florence. The
streets must have rivaled the colorful
brilliance of this painting, probably
owned by the Medici. Apparently begun
by Fra Angelico and completed by Fra
Filippo Lippi, the work evidences both
artists’ styles: the former’s gentle
Madonna, for example, and the latter’s
more robust Joseph.
Leonardo da Vinci
Ginevra de’ Benci, c. 1474 / 1478
Gallery 6
Ginevra’s face displays the delicate
translucence of porcelain. Behind
her, the misty landscape assumes a
soft, atmospheric effect. Perhaps an
engagement portrait, this is the only
painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the
Western Hemisphere.
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Rembrandt van Rijn
The Mill, 1645/1648
Gallery 48
In 1648, the Dutch celebrated the
establishment of the Dutch Republic
with the signing of the Treaty of
Münster. Here, one senses the pride
the Dutch felt for their land in the
powerful image of the mill, standing
alone above a bulwark and silhouetted
against a stormy sky.
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Johannes Vermeer
A Lady Writing, c. 1665
A study of stillness, the young woman
dressed in a fur-trimmed yellow jacket
quietly regards us with a slight smile.
She may be pleased at the pearls on
the table before her, or by thoughts
of her suitor as she writes what is probably a love letter.
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Raphael
The Niccolini-Cowper Madonna, 1508
Gallery 20
The child, at once imposing and playful,
grabs at his mother’s bodice to nurse.
The interlocking geometry of their
poses and the intimacy of their actions
are seamlessly linked — a balance of
form and meaning that is the hallmark
of High Renaissance style.
Rogier van der Weyden
Portrait of a Lady, c. 1460
Gallery 39
The filigree adorning her belt, the folds
creasing her veil, and her delicate
lashes all seem very real. Yet she
appears at some remove from the
world and from us. A lowered gaze
and tightly clasped hands suggest
introspection, while triangles of dark
and light abstract the image, giving
the work a formal elegance to match
her aristocratic reserve.
Written by the Department of Education
Publications. Produced by the Publishing
Office. © 2012 Board of Trustees, National
Gallery of Art, Washington (June 2012)
Childe Hassam
Allies Day, May 1917, 1917
Gallery 70
The American entry into World War i
inspired Hassam to paint New York’s
Fifth Avenue — temporarily renamed
the Avenue of the Allies — festooned
with British, French, and U.S. flags,
their unity underscored by shared
colors. Among the first American
impressionists, Hassam rendered an
early spring morning suffused with
gentle light. One American flag flies
alone at the top of the painting, gently
lifted by the wind.
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Vincent van Gogh
Self-Portrait, 1889
Gallery 83
After voluntarily entering an asylum
and suffering a breakdown there,
Van Gogh painted this penetrating
image of himself holding palette
and brush. Flamelike drags of paint
and pulsing color contrasts express
the artistic passion and personal
fragility that characterized the artist’s
brief but prolific career. He died at
age thirty-seven, having created two
thousand works.
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Paul Cézanne
The Peppermint Bottle, 1893/1895
Gallery 84
Cézanne loved to paint the French
countryside, and the arrangement of
this still life, with its peaks and valleys
of fabric, resembles a landscape. The
angular fruits and glassware nestled
into the cloth seem to tilt precariously
toward the viewer. Notice the misshapen bottle — Cézanne willfully distorted objects and perspectives in order
to create a harmonious arrangement.
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Claude Monet
Rouen Cathedral, West Façade,
Sunlight, 1894
Gallery 87
Monet painted Rouen Cathedral some
thirty times, but what fascinated him
most was not the building — it was,
he said, the enveloping atmosphere.
Rather than quick impressionist transcriptions of transient light effects,
these pictures, slowly reworked in
the studio, are carefully considered
explorations of color and mood.
On view in Ground Floor
Gallery 13A
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Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
Madame Moitessier, 1851
Gallery 56
A sought-after society portraitist in
Paris, Ingres was commissioned to
paint Inès Moitessier, wife of a wealthy
lace merchant and celebrated beauty.
Draped with roses and an elaborate
dress against a rich background, she
is monumental and statuesque. The
artist’s smooth and sinuous handling
of paint completes her perfection.
Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Shaw Memorial, 1900
Gallery 66
The gigantic, golden full-scale plaster
model of the bronze memorial erected
in Boston to young Colonel Shaw
and the African American soldiers
of the Massachusetts 54th Infantry
Regiment is not to be missed. In their
valiant effort to preserve the Union,
they also overcame prejudice about
their military ability. Their heroism
inspired the film Glory.