PLACES TO GO PLACES TO STAY TAKE THE KIDS VISITOR INFO TOUR BOOKS TOURS & TICKETS BLOG
MONUMENTS AND MEMORIALS MUSEUMS OTHER ATTRACTIONS DAY TRIPS PARKS EVENTS RESTAURANTS SHOPPING

National Gallery of Art

Opened in 1937 as a gift from financier Andrew Mellon to the people of the United States, the National Gallery of Art is the elder statesman among the museums that line the National Mall. You could spend an entire day here and not exhaust this world-class collection. "The Dance Lesson" by Edgar Degas, Rembrandt's "Self-Portrait", a 76-foot-long mobile by Alexander Calder -- there's something here to satisfy all tastes and interests.

Travel Information

National Gallery of Art
4th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20565
202.737.4215

Hours: Open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The gallery is closed on Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

Admission: Free

Parking: Public parking is limited to the surrounding streets and commercial garages.

Metrorail: Orange and Blue Line stops for Smithsonian, Red Line stop for Judiciary Square, and Green/Yellow Line stop for National Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter.

Nearby Attractions

National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian)

Newseum

National Mall

Suggested Tours

Tourmobile Sightseeing

Old Town Trolley Tour

DC in a Day Tour

The National Gallery also has a strong track record when it comes to crowd-pleasing exhibits, notably hosting the 1977 Treasures of Tutankhamun, which set the standard for modern museum blockbusters. Its curators continue to impress, recently presenting treasures from Afghanistan’s National Museum, and currently showing Designing the Lincoln Memorial: Daniel Chester French and Henry Bacon (through February 2010). One 2009 exhibit of note: Luis Melendez: Master of the Spanish Still Life, on show from May through August.

While you’re perusing the art, take note of the gallery’s modern, angular East Building, designed by architect I.M. Pei and opened to great fanfare in 1978. It’s considered one of Washington, D.C.’s architectural treasures.

Your visit here won’t be complete without a stop at one of the city’s loveliest green spaces: the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, located on a six-acre plot adjacent to the West Building at 7th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W. (in front of the National Archives).

At the garden’s center you’ll find a fountain and pool surrounded by bench seating; the space is transformed into a public ice rink every winter. Enjoy a sandwich or salad on the terrace at the Pavilion Café and take in the garden’s humorous mix of contemporary sculptures. They include a giant bronze spider, a typewriter eraser and a cerebral rabbit sitting on a rock—an irreverent homage to Auguste Rodin’s masterpiece The Thinker.

Travel Tips

Check out the Jazz in the Garden concert series, held in the Sculpture Garden Fridays at 5:00 pm, from May through September (see web site for schedule). Arrive early, though —the concerts are extremely popular with Washington, D.C. residents, who like to bring a picnic dinner.

For more, visit www.nga.gov.

 

Find all the information you need about Washington, D.C. at http://www.thedistrict.com