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NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART
The National Gallery of Art
was created for the people of the United States of Amer­
ica by a joint resolution of Congress. The Board of Trust­
ees consists of four public servants, ex officio, and five
private citizens. Under the policies set by the Board,
the Gallery acquires and maintains a collection of paint­
ings, sculpture, and the graphic arts, representative of
the best in the artistic heritage of America and Europe.
Supported in its daily operations by Federal funds, the
Gallery is entirely dependent on the generosity of pri­
vate citizens for the works of art in its collections.
Funds for the construction of the original building
were provided by the A. W. Mellon Educational and
Charitable Trust. During the 1920s, Mr. Mellon began
to collect with the intention of forming a national gal­
lery of art in Washington. His collection was promised
to the nation in 1937, the year of his death. On March
17, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt accepted the
completed building and collections on behalf of the
people of the United States of America.
Main Floor
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WEST BUILDING
Architect for the National Gallery’s West Building
was John Russell Pope, who also designed the Jefferson
Memorial and other outstanding public buildings in
Washington. The building is one of the largest marble
structures in the world, measuring 780 feet in length
and containing more than 500,000 square feet of inte­
rior floor space. The exterior is rose-white Tennessee
marble. The columns in the Rotunda were quarried in
Tuscany, Italy. Green marble from Vermont and gray
marble from Tennessee were used for the floor of the
Rotunda. The interior walls are of Alabama Rockwood
stone, Indiana limestone, and Italian travertine.
The principal painting and sculpture exhibition gal­
leries are on the Main Floor. To trace the development
of western painting as represented in the collections of
the National Gallery of Art, the visitor should enter the
west hall immediately adjoining the Rotunda and pro­
ceed to gallery number 1, the first room on the right.
1
WEST BUILDING
THE COLLECTIONS
The paintings and sculpture given by the founder,
Andrew W. Mellon, including works by the greatest mas­
ters from the thirteenth to the nineteenth century, have
formed a nucleus of high quality around which the col­
lection has grown. Mr. Mellon’s hope that the newly
established National Gallery would attract gifts from other
collectors was realized, even before the Gallery opened,
by the action of Samuel H. Kress. He gave to the nation
his comprehensive collection of Italian paintings and
sculpture dating from the thirteenth to the eighteenth
century. Rush H. Kress enlarged and enriched his
brother’s collection on subsequent occasions by con­
tributing additional works of Italian art, as well as a
distinguished group of French eighteenth-century can­
vases and sculpture, and fine examples from other Euro­
pean schools.
In 1942 Joseph E. Widener gave the famous collec­
tion of paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts formed
by him and his father, P. A. B. Widener. Chester Dale,
besides making numerous gifts during his lifetime, be­
queathed his extensive collection of nineteenth- and
twentieth-century French paintings to the Gallery. Ailsa
Mellon Bruce also bequeathed her collection of French
paintings to the Gallery and generously provided funds
for the purchase of many old master paintings, includ­
ing the Leonardo da Vinci. Lessing J. Rosenwald con­
tributed some 25,000 prints and drawings, and a large
collection of American naive paintings was given by
Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch. Paul Mel­
lon continues his family’s tradition of great generosity
to the Gallery with many gifts of exceptional quality. In
addition, hundreds of other donors have added to the
collections of the National Gallery of Art.
2
WEST BUILDING
Byzantine School,
Madonna and Child on a
Curved Throne. 13th
Century. Andrew W.
Mellon Collection
Main Floor ITALIAN ART
In the National Gallery collections, works created in
Florence, Siena, Rome, and Central Italy show the range
of skills and styles prevalent in painting as it progressed
from the highly religious art of the Middle Ages to the
more worldly art of the Renaissance. Typical of the styl­
ized art of the Byzantine Empire, Madonna and Child on
a Curved Throne (gallery 1) by an unknown artist is an
icon, or holy image. The faces are modeled with cast
shadows which suggest three-dimensional forms and an
appreciation of classical solidity, whereas a Near East­
ern love of decoration accounts for the formalized drap­
ery patterns and their dazzling highlights. Artists later
combined an interest in nature, analytical science, and
classical humanism with recently developed oil paints
to bring about a corresponding realism in art. Soon after
his apprenticeship with the sculptor and painter Ver­
rocchio, Leonardo da Vinci rendered the portrait of
Ginevra de’Benci (gallery 6) with precise draftsmanship
and a subtle manipulation of light and shadow. Punning
on the name of the young Florentine noblewoman, the
artist has framed her head with a juniper bush — ginepro
in Italian—and decorated the back of the panel with a
juniper sprig.
3
WEST BUILDING
Aware of the subtle reflections of light and shadow
playing over the misty air of Venice, the sixteenthcentury artists of this city strove to capture the illusion
of surface texture and tangible atmosphere, and to cre­
ate a sense of mood, whether it be the pastoral quietude
of The Adoration of the Shepherds by Giorgione (gallery
21) or the eerie drama of Christ at the Sea of Galilee by
Tintoretto (gallery 27). Giorgione bathed the placid land­
scape of his scene with the half-light of dawn and depicted
a world sympathetic to the undisturbed religious medi­
tation of the holy family and shepherds. On the other
hand, the strong colors, shifting light, gathering clouds,
and agitated water of Tintoretto’s work heighten the
moment of the resurrected Christ’s appearing to his dis­
ciples. Since oil paints blended easily together and could
be thickened with pigments, Venetian artists soon estab­
lished a more flexible technique adapted to their aims.
Titian built up forms with dense, opaque paints and mul­
tiple layers of glazes—thin translucent oils of great lumi­
nosity and richness of hue—convincingly evoking the
feel of natural substances such as the fur, silk, and pre­
cious stones in his Venus with a Mirror (gallery 22).
To help curb the appeal the Protestant Reformation
had for ambivalent Christians, the Catholic clergy com­
missioned and supported during the seventeenth cen­
tury a realistic yet dramatic art designed to involve the
4
WEST BUILDING
Titian, Venus with a Mirror.
C. 1555. Andrew W. Mellon
Collection
Right.
Panini, The Interior of the
Pantheon, c. 1740. Samuel
H. Kress Collection
populace in the teaching and the authority of the Church.
Representative of the time were the Carracci (gallery
28), three artists from the same family who combined an
interest in the realism, idealism, and art theory of antiq­
uity and the Renaissance. In The Dream of Saint
Catherine of Alexandria by Ludovico Carracci, the
large scale of the figures, their closeness to the picture
surface, and the direct gaze of the Christ Child estab­
lish a sense of rapport between the spectator, Catherine,
and the members of her mystical vision.
By the middle of the eighteenth century, Italy stood
at the center of the European Grand Tour, and the work
of Canaletto, Guardi, and other artists answered a rising
demand for souvenir view paintings. The depiction of
The Interior of the Pantheon by Panini (gallery 30), one
such scene, illustrates the source for the design of the
Rotunda in the West Building of the National Gallery.
5
WEST BUILDING
El Greco, Laocoôn. C. 1610. Samuel H. Kress Collection
SPANISH ART
Commissioned by royalty or the Church, foreign paint­
ers dominated the arts of Spain during the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries. El Greco, a Greek who studied in
Venice and Rome, settled in Toledo and produced works
highly individualistic and mannered in approach. With
elongated figures, exaggerated poses, and a tumultuous
sky, he depicted in the Laocoon (gallery 34) an incident
from the Trojan War during which a priest of Apollo
and his sons wrestle with serpents sent by the Greek
gods. The greatest Spanish artist of the late eighteenth
and early nineteenth centuries was Francisco de Goya,
who was court portraitist to a succession of corrupt monarchs and French conquerors. Sometimes sympathetic,
more often unflattering in his representations of Span­
ish society, Goya was an astute observer of human nature.
Doha Teresa Sureda (gallery 37) sits erectly with arms
clasped and head turned; she appears in her portrait as
a woman of great propriety and inner strength.
6
WEST BUILDING
FLEMISH AND GERMAN ART
At the beginning of the fifteenth century, Netherland­
ish artists such as Jan van Eyck achieved mastery in the
new technique of oil painting. His use of an oil medium
in The Annunciation (gallery 39) permitted a greater depth
and richness of color which he coupled with the medi­
eval tradition of minute, craftsmanly detail. Two centu­
ries later, Rubens drew heavily upon the dynamic realism
of the baroque style for Daniel in the Lions’Den (gallery
45). Van Dyck, as an influential court portraitist, estab­
lished the “Grand Manner” format of aloof figures on
monumental canvases, illustrated in his portrait of Queen
Henrietta Maria with Her Dwarf (gallery 43). One of the
few surviving paintings by the German artist Grünewald,
The Small Crucifixion (gallery 35A) depicts the haggard
and scarred body of Christ against a darkened sky.
Painted on the eve of the Protestant Reformation, this
panel reflects with its emotional power and immediacy
the human suffering necessary for Christ to redeem
mankind and a growing insistence in northern Europe
upon the reality and importance of private religious
experiences.
7
Vermeer, Woman Holding a Balance.
C. 1664. W idener Collection
DUTCH ART
Rembrandt, Self-Portrait. 1659.
Andrew W. Mellon Collection
After bitter wars with Spain, the United Netherlands
emerged as a prosperous free republic where Dutch
patrons developed a taste for landscapes, portraits, still
lifes, and scenes of daily life to embellish their public
and private buildings. Their demands were met by an
ever increasing number of Dutch artists, including Hals,
Kalf, Vermeer, and Hobbema, who specialized in a sin­
gle type of subject. Always sensitive to the nuances of
light, Vermeer juxtaposed his Woman Holding a Bal­
ance ( gallery 49) against a framed painting of the Last
Judgment, thus suggesting a comparison between weigh­
ing the souls of mankind and one’s worldly possessions.
The one exception to specialization was Rembrandt,
whose penetrating insight into the human condition and
whose superb technical facility enabled him to explore
successfully a variety of subjects. In his Self-Portrait
(gallery 47), Rembrandt appears enveloped by shadows
and somber colors in a moment of quiet introspection.
ONiiaima lshav
David, Napoleon in His Study.
1812. Samuel H. Kress Collection
FRENCH ART OF THE SEVENTEENTH,
EIGHTEENTH, ANL) EARLY
NINETEENTH CENTURIES
Heavily supported by the royal court, seventeenthcentury French artists were sent to Rome to study the
arts of the Italian Renaissance and classical antiquity;
some, like Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin (gallery
52), chose to remain in Italy. A century later, French
society became more relaxed and informal. Fragonard’s
A Young Girl Reading (gallery 55) illustrates the new
rococo style of carefree delicacy, pastel colors, and grace­
fully curving lines. After the French Revolution of 1789,
a school of neoclassical artists led by David dominated
painting and focused on themes of patriotic heroism
and the severe beauty of line and firm modeling. In
David’s portrait Napoleon in His Study (gallery 56), the
French emperor stands as a dedicated leader, rumpled in
appearance, after a night of hard work on the Napoleonic
Code, a social reform still the basis of French law.
9
WEST BUILDING
Gainsborough, Mrs.
Richard Brinsley Sheridan.
Probably 1785/1786.
Andrew W. Mellon Collection
BRITISH ART
During the eighteenth century, England was a leading
maritime and industrial nation and supported a large
group of native painters (galleries 58, 59). The portrait­
ists were led by Sir Joshua Reynolds, first president of
the Royal Academy of Arts, and Thomas Gainsborough,
noted for his virtuoso brushwork. The natural setting,
informal pose, and rapid application of paint achieve a
sense of unaffected simplicity and graceful beauty in
Gainsborough’s portrait of Mrs. Richard Brinsley Sheridan,
celebrated actress and wife of the playwright. Two land­
scapists of international reputation emerged in England
in the early 1800s. Constable was a realist in his study
of the English countryside and natural light of Wivenhoe
Park (gallery 58); Turner was a romantic who explored
the intangible forces of nature—fire, smoke, light, vapor,
and reflections—in Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Moon­
light (gallery 57).
10
WEST BUILDING
Cole, The Voyage o f Life: Childhood. 1842. Ailsa Mell on Bruce Fund
AMERICAN ART
During the colonial period, American art had been pre­
dominantly one of portraiture. The Boston artist John
Singleton Copley was well known for the realism and
individuality of his likenesses; in his portrayal of Epes
Sargent (gallery 64), he detailed the textures of the wool,
wig, and flesh of his subject, who leans casually and
thoughtfully against a pillar. By the mid-nineteenth
century, with the exploration of the West, the expanding
population, and the influence of photography, there was
a thriving school of landscape painters. This attention
to the scenery of the New World—the mountains and
forests of Asher B. Durand and Jasper Francis Cropsey
(galleries 66, 67) and the quiet marine views of John
F. Kensett and Fitz Hugh Lane (gallery 67)—fed a bur­
geoning national pride in the young republic. Thomas
Cole painted panoramas of native wilderness, such as
The Notch of the White Mountains (Crawford Notch) (gallery
67) and imaginary, allegorical scenes. One such land­
scape fantasy, The Voyage of Life (gallery 60), is a series
of four views which traces the journey of “Everyman”
through the four stages of life, seasons of the year, and
periods of the day along the river of time.
At the turn of the century, Thomas Eakins (galleries
68, 69) and Winslow Homer (gallery 68) portrayed
American life and scenery with straightforward candor
11
WEST BUILDING
Whistler, The White Girl
(Symphony in White, No. 1).
1862. Harris W hittem ore
Collection
Copley, Watson and the Shark. 1778. Ferdinand Lammot
Belin Fund
through their portraits and genre scenes. Their exam­
ple was carried on by Robert Henri, George Bellows,
and John Sloan (galleries 70, 71), American artists who
were fascinated with the urban growth of the 1900s and
emphasized the vitality of city life in their work.
12
WEST BUILDING
Manet, Gare Saint-Lazare. 1873. Gift of Horace Havemeyer
in memory of his m other, Louisine W. Havemeyer
Renoir, A Girl with a
Watering Can. 1876.
Chester Dale Collection
FRENCH ART OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
French art during the second half of the 1800s is noted
for its innovation and diversity. Although the paintings
produced during this period differ in their visual effects,
the artists of these works were all largely concerned
with the same problems: how to treat nature and how
to define reality. Monet, Renoir, and the other so-called
impressionists concentrated on recording the fleeting
and subtle color sensations created by changes in sun­
light. Renoir’s technique in A Girl with a Watering Can
(gallery 90) is rapid and sketchy with little attention to
13
WEST BUILDING
Cézanne, Still Life with Peppermint Bottle, c. 1894.
Chester Dale Collection
studiously modeled form. His painting, although “real­
istic” in the rendition of light and space, does not have
the solid, tangible qualities so evident in academic
painting. Other artists rejected impressionism’s concern
with transitory moments; Cézanne investigated the under­
lying structure of objects in nature. The fruit, glass,
drapery, and wall of Still Life with Peppermint Bottle
(gallery 85) conform to a muted color system and a geo­
metric organization of curves and stable axes which
express the relationship of color and form in space.
14
WEST BUILDING
Ground Floor
Detail. Brussels tapestry,
he Triumph of Christ, c. 1500.
W idener Collection
Chalice of Abbot Sager
of Saint-Denis, c. 1140.
W idener Collection
The National Gallery’s Widener Collection of decora­
tive arts includes a wide variety of objects dating from
the twelfth to the eighteenth century.
Important Flemish tapestries and Italian Renaissance
furniture can be seen in rooms near the Seventh Street
Lobby. Three tapestries were designed by the Flemish
painter Bernard van Orley. Woven about 1500, the
famous “Mazarin” tapestry The Triumph of Christ, is
considered the finest surviving tapestry from the Euro­
pean Middle Âges.
Medieval cloisonné enamels of religious significance
are on view in the “treasury.” The Chalice of Abbot Suger,
dating from c.1140, a cup of sardonyx and gold inlaid
with precious stones, is among the most important objects
of medieval art in America. For nearly six centuries, it
served as the sacramental vessel for the coronation of
French queens at the royal abbey of Saint-Denis.
The Widener collection of Chinese porcelains, includ­
ing a notable assemblage of decorative polychrome ware,
is installed in three galleries.
Great cabinetmakers of eighteenth-century France are
represented in a series of four galleries; one room is
assembled from a house designed in the rococo style of
Louis XV. Marie Antoinette’s writing desk from her
imprisonment in the Tuileries Palace is of particular
interest. Some pieces of furniture are opened to reveal
their interior fittings and secret drawers.
15
WEST BUILDINi
SCULPTURE
Alberti, Self-Portrait.
C. 1435. Samuel
Collection
H. Kre9s
Selections from the renowned Samuel H. Kress Collection
of Renaissance bronzes, statuettes, reliefs and plaquettes,
medals and coins, can be seen in the north sculpture
galleries, along with works from the Widener Collection.
Included are small bronzes by Riccio, the Capitoline
Wolfoi the Roman School, and the bronze self-portrait
plaque of Leone Battista Alberti, the only sculpture
attributed to the great fifteenth-century Italian architect.
Sixteenth-century Italian maiolica ceramics from the
Widener Collection are exhibited with bronze plaquettes
by Moderno and Valerio Belli of the same period.
Jewels designed by Renaissance masters are displayed
with carved and incised rock crystals from sixteenthcentury Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands.
Important eighteenth-century French sculpture by
Clodion and Houdon, nineteenth-century sculpture
including many works by the animal sculptor Barye which
were given to the National Gallery by Mr. and Mrs. Paul
Mellon, and a group of some forty works by Rodin, many
from the collection of Mrs. John W. Simpson, are also
installed here. The twentieth century is represented
by masters such as Degas, Maillol, Duchamp-Villon,
Lehmbruck, and Manzù.
PRINTS AND DRAWINGS
The rapidly expanding National Gallery collection of
prints and drawings, in great part given by Lessing J.
16
Hicks, The Cornell Farm. 1848.
Gift of Edgar William and
Bernice Chrysler Garbisch
AMERICAN NAIVE PAINTINGS
Paintings from the Colonel Edgar William and Bernice
Chrysler Garbisch collection of American folk art dat­
ing from the early eighteenth to the late nineteenth cen­
tury fill the central gallery. Included in this notable gift
are Edward Hicks’ Peaceable Kingdom, Joshua Johnson’s
The Westwood Children, and Winthrop Chandler’s com­
panion portraits of Captain Samuel Chandler and Mrs.
Samuel Chandler.
INDEX OF AMERICAN DESIGN
The Index of American Design is a collection of watercolor renderings of the popular arts in the United States
from before 1700 until about 1900. Some 17,000 finely
executed watercolors and 500 photographs representing
American ceramics, furniture, woodcarving, glassware,
metalwork, tools and utensils, textiles, and costumes
may be studied upon request.
17
rh
WEST BUILDINf
Rosenwald, currently contains some 50,000 pieces from
the twelfth century to the present time. Old master and
modern works by major artists—Master E. S., Dürer,
Rembrandt, Blake, and Whistler among others—are
installed on a rotating basis and provide a survey of the
graphic arts. Special exhibitions of prints and drawings
from other sources are also on view in adjoining
galleries.
WEST BUILDING
European paintings and sculpture from the thirteenth through the nineteenth
centuries, and American art, are on the Main Floor. On the Ground Floor
are galleries of prints, drawings, sculpture, decorative arts, and American
naive paintings; also the Garden Café and the main sales shop.
The underground concourse beneath the Fourth
Street Plaza connects the West and East Build­
ings and contains the self-service Buffet, the
Cascade Café, and the main bookstore.
M
18
East Building
Concourse
Twentieth-century art and a changing series of
special exh ibitions are shown in the East Build­
ing. The main auditorium is on the concourse
level, and the Terrace Café is on the upper level.
Tower
U pper Level
Mezzanine
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Main Floor
Ground Floor
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19
....................
AST BUILDING
West Building
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EAST BUILDING
The East Building opened on June 1,1978, in response
to the changing needs of the National Gallery. It pro­
vides a variety of spaces to accommodate the Gallery’s
growing collections and special exhibitions, augment­
ing as well the facilities for educational services, schol­
arly research, and administration.
Funds for the East Building’s construction were given
by Paul Mellon and the late Ailsa Mellon Bruce, the son
and daughter of the founder, and by the Andrew W.
Mellon Foundation. Groundbreaking took place on May
6,1971, on land which had been set aside as part of the
initial Congressional allotment to the National Gallery
in 1937.
Located where the Mall and Pennsylvania Avenue con­
verge near the foot of Capitol Hill, the site for the East
Building is trapezoidal in shape. Not only did such a
form put limitations on the design of the structure; it
also presented difficulties in aligning the East Building
with the axis of the West Building. I. M. Pei and Partners,
the architects of the complex, resolved these problems
by designing the building as a trapezoid divided into
two triangular sections. A large isosceles triangle con­
tains public galleries and auditoriums; a smaller right
triangle houses administrative and curatorial offices and
the Gallery’s Center for Advanced Study in the Visual
Arts. The entrance of the East Building, located at the
center of the base of the isosceles triangle, appears to
21
EAST BUILDING
Calder, Untitled. 1976. Gift of the Collectors Committee
continue the axis of the West Building, thus visually
and geometrically unifying the two structures.
The contemporary and classical architectural designs
of both buildings are boldly simple. While their sheer
marble walls are in different styles, they are identical in
material. Although rectangular forms dominate the classic
West Building and polygonal forms govern the geometry
of the East Building, each structure shows a precision
and cleanness of line not needing superficial ornamen­
tation.
The vast Central Court is the core of the East Building.
Its glass walls and space-frame skylight merge the inte­
rior dynamically with exterior vistas, allowing visitors
to orient themselves to the outdoors. Natural light from
above animates the indoor central court, while bridges
and balconies give measure to the monumental space.
Interpenetrating solids and voids reveal to the visitor
the entire multistoried concept of galleries housed in
the corner towers and their connecting interior terraces.
The National Gallery Plaza links the two buildings,
emphasizing their common axis. The fountain cascade
and prismatic skylights of the Plaza not only are lively
abstract sculptures but also admit natural light to the
Concourse, the underground connecting link between
the two buildings.
22
CENTRAL COURT
When the East Building was first designed, several origi­
nal pieces were commissioned by the Collectors Com­
mittee, a group of art patrons from many parts of the
United States who make possible the acquisition of
important works of twentieth-century art.
Alexander Calder’s mobile, for instance, is suspended
from the space frame and complements the richly artic­
ulated space of the Central Court. The artist combined
his interest in form and motion to invent a new artistic
concept, the “mobile.” The sculpture activates its envi­
ronment in its circuit around the building, as the sensi­
tively balanced rods and free-form plates move in response
to air currents. Aerospace techniques were used to reduce
the projected weight; although three stories high and
76 feet in extended length, the mobile, with its honey­
comb aluminum blades, weighs only 920 pounds.
In recent years, Joan Miro, one of the foremost mod23
EAST BUILDING
Miro, Woman. 1977. Gift of the Collectors Committee
and George L. Erion
Moore, Knife Edge Mirror Two Piece. 1977/1978. Gift of the M orris and
Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation
ern painters, has explored textiles as a creative medium.
The brilliant colors, simple forms, and textured treat­
ment of Woman, the tapestry hanging in the Central
Court, suggest a sense of rhythmic energy.
Anthony Caro, by placing his work on the ledge above
the entrance to the Administrative and Study Center,
eliminated the conventional pedestal for sculpture and
removed his art from traditional orientation. Before weld­
ing the oxidized steel bands, the sculptor studied the
site in scale models, remaining free to improvise while
he assembled the final piece.
Henry Moore, in designing Knife Edge Mirror Two
Piece for the entrance of the East Building, adapted one
of his earlier motifs, reversing the composition and enlarg­
ing the scale to complement the terrace area. He focused
attention not only on the metal masses but also on their
surrounding space. Moore has explained his two-piece
sculpture: “As you move around it, the two parts over­
lap or they open up and there’s space between. Sculp­
ture is like a journey. You have a diiferent view when
you return.” This work is the gift of the Morris and
Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation.
24
Mondrian, Lozenge in Red, Yellow, and Blue.
EXHIBITIONS ANI) COLLECTIONS
The East Building offers a wide variety of art experiences.
Twentieth-century art, old master paintings and sculp­
ture, prints and drawings, and other works from the
Gallery’s collections are installed in changing contexts.
Loan exhibitions of national and international signifi­
cance are presented in this building as in the West
Building, and the size and flexibility of the structure’s
design allow several different shows to be held simulta­
neously on the various levels.
Aspects of twentieth-century painting and sculpture
in the work of such renowned artists as Picasso, Matisse,
David Smith, Jackson Pollock, and Robert Motherwell
may be viewed on the Upper Level. Many of these art­
ists often abandon the direct imitation of reality, prefer­
ring instead to work through complex problems of design
to express human feelings. A tremendous diversity of
styles has resulted. The National Gallery’s present col­
lection of modern art is particularly strong in the French
school prior to World War I, the period when Paris was
the cultural center of Europe, and in American art from
the 1950s and 1960s.
25
EAST BUILDING
C. 1925. Gift of Herbert and N annette Rothschild
EAST BUILDING
Picasso, Family of Saltimbanques. 1905. Chester Dale Collection
Gathered in the foreground of a barren landscape, the
wandering acrobats portrayed in Picasso’s Family of
Saltimbanques stand immobile, each caught in a moment
of solemn introspection. Sometimes called his youthful
masterpiece, the scene suggests a mood of gentle sad­
ness and represents the culmination of his circus period.
By 1910, Picasso had focused his attention upon the
theoretical basis of cubism, the intellectual analysis of
form and space. Nude Woman, the largest of his analytic
cubist paintings, at first appears to be an abstract com­
plex of interlocking planes. Picasso, however, never
denied the natural source of his subject.
The American artist Jackson Pollock abandoned the tra­
ditional imagery of earlier art and developed what became
known as the “drip technique.” Pouring paint across
Number 1, 1950, he emphasized the actual process of
painting through direct and spontaneous gesture. The
resultant abstract image is marked by rhythmic energy,
active lines, and vaporous tones. Due to the atmospheric
effect of this technique and the pastel colors of this
painting, the work was later named Lavender Mist.
26
EAST BUILDING
Reconciliation Elegy is one of over 140 paintings by Rob­
ert Motherwell which are composed of stark black shapes
on a white ground. This series, entitled The Elegies to
the Spanish Republic, began as ornamentation for a poem
and found its source in Motherwell’s political awaken­
ing during the Spanish Civil War. Suggestive of the strug­
gle between life and death, the austere relationship of
black and white enables the canvas to be easily read
from a distance. At close range, the spattered black and
smeared red chalk lines reflect the practice of linear
automatism—gestures of the artist’s hand following the
impulses of his mind.
27
EAST BUILDING
David Smith, Circle I, Circle II, Circle III. 1962. Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund
Although trained as a painter, David Smith was one of
the most influential American sculptors of the twen­
tieth century. Circle I, Circle II, and Circle III were
conceived as a polychrome steel ensemble which com­
bined painting and sculpture. Each piece relies on sim­
ilar geometric shapes, but the individual forms vary in
arrangement, size, and color. Often used in his work,
color here dominates and enhances the simple, abstract
structures.
28
The National Gallery of Art is open every day of the
year except Christmas and New Year’s. Admission is free
at all times.
Hours Mon.—Sat. 10 am—5 pm; Sun. 12 noon—9 pm.
Tours, Lectures, Films, Free tours of the collection and gallery talks are given
and Concerts by the Education Department.
• An Introductory Tour, lasting about fifty minutes, cov­
ers the Gallery’s highlights. Mon. —Sat. 11:00 and 3:00;
Sun. 1:00 and 5:00.
• The Tour of the Week, lasting about fifty minutes,
concentrates on one type of painting or on a special
exhibition. Tues. —Sat. 1:00; Sun. 2:30.
• The Painting of the Week is a fifteen-minute gallery
talk on a single painting in the collection. Color repro­
ductions of the painting discussed may be purchased in
the Gallery’s sales shop; a brief text is available without
charge. Tues.—Sat. 12:00 and 2:00; Sun. 3:30 and 6:00.
• Special Appointments for groups of fifteen or more people,
or foreign language tours for five or more, can be arranged
by applying to the Education Department at least two
weeks in advance.
• Illustrated Lectures by visiting authorities are scheduled
in the auditorium. These lectures are usually related to
the National Gallery’s collections or to a special exhibi­
tion. Admission is free, and no reservations are required.
Sunday 4:00.
• Free Films on art are presented on a varying schedule
in the auditorium. For further information, consult the
Gallery’s Calendar o f Events.
• Free Concerts are given by the National Gallery Orches­
tra or guest artists in the East Garden Court of the West
29
INFORMATION
GENERAL
INFORMATION
INFORMATION
Building on Sunday evenings at 7 pm except during the
summer months. Seats, which are not reserved, are avail­
able after 6 pm. The programs, with intermission talks
or interviews by the Gallery staff, are broadcast live over
WGMS-AM ( 570 ) and FM ( 103.5 ).
Art Information Desks
Calendar of Events
Publications Service
West Building: Main Floor, Rotunda; Constitution Ave­
nue entrance, Ground Floor
East Building: 4th Street entrance, Ground Floor
The free monthly Calendar o f Events listing special
exhibitions, lectures, concerts, and films will be sent
upon request.
The largest sales shop is on the Ground Floor of the
West Building, adjoining the 4th Street entrance. The
Concourse Level shop, between the two buildings, fea­
tures a wide selection of art books. In the East Building,
the shop emphasizes materials relating to the East Build­
ing and its exhibitions.
Food Service «* Café/Buffet
Concourse Level, Connecting Link:
Mon.—Sat. 10 am —3:30 pm.
Sun. 12 noon—6 pm.
<> Garden Café
West Building, Ground Floor:
Mon. —Sat. 11 am—4:30 pm.
Sun. 12 noon—6 pm.
<* Terrace Café
East Building, Upper Level:
Mon. —Sat. 11 am—4:30 pm.
Sun. 12 noon—6 pm.
Extension Services
Educational materials suitable for museums, schools,
and other educational organizations can be borrowed
free of charge. Color slide programs, films, and videocas­
settes cover a wide range of subjects based on works in
the Gallery’s collections and special exhibitions. A free
catalogue is available at any Information Desk. For addi­
tional information, write to the Department of Exten­
sion Programs.
30
INFORMATION
Slide Lending Service Slides of the Gallery’s collection are available as loans
to organizations, schools, and colleges without charge.
For information, apply to the Slide Library.
Restrooms and There are restrooms and telephones adjacent to all the
Telephones entrance lobbies and to the cafés.
First Aid An emergency room under the supervision of trained
nurses is available for first-aid treatment. The guards
will direct visitors.
Wheelchairs, Strollers Strollers for small children and wheelchairs are available
from the guards at building entrances without charge.
Attendants for pushing wheelchairs are not available.
Checkrooms Parcels, briefcases, knapsacks, and umbrellas must be
checked. Free checking service is provided at the
entrances.
Regulations The guards are under orders not to permit visitors to
touch the works of art under any circumstances. Pens
with fluid ink may not be used in the galleries. Smoking
is forbidden in the exhibition areas. Food and drink are
limited to the food service areas.
Photography Photography for personal purposes, with or without flash,
but not with a tripod or monopod, is permitted unless
signs in a particular area indicate the contrary. Applica­
tion for permission to use a tripod or monopod should
be made to the Photographic Services Office, Monday
through Friday, except legal holidays.
31
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Paul Mellon, Chairman
The Chief Justice of the United States
The Secretary of State
The Secretary of the Treasury
The Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
John R. Stevenson, Carlisle H. Humelsine,
Franklin D. Murphy, Ruth Carter Johnson
GIFTS AND BEQUESTS
Both the buildings and the collections of the National
Gallery of Art are the result of private generosity. The
Board of Trustees has full power to receive property,
real and personal, for the general purpose of the National
Gallery of Art.
Offers of gift or bequest of particular property should
be discussed in advance:
• with the Secretary’s Office for specific important works
of art,
• with the Chief Librarian for books of art historical
importance.
Gifts may also be made by check payable to the Trust­
ees of the National Gallery of Art.
The following form of bequest may be used:
I bequeath to the Trustees of the National Gallery of Art
the sum of----------------- --------for the general purposes
of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, District of
Columbia.
All gifts and bequests are deductible, within the limits
prescribed by law, for applicable Federal tax purposes.
32
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Washington, D.C. 20565
Telephone: (202) 737-4215
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