Page Updated: February 11, 2024

National Gallery of Art

The Last of the Buffalo - Washington D.C.

Located on the National Mall in Washington D.C., the National Gallery of Art works to collect, preserve, protect, and exhibit one of the richest collections of American and European works in the world. The Gallery’s collection reaches back to the 13th century and includes masterworks of Monet, Picasso, and Van Gogh, prints, drawings, rare books, American furniture, and a 6-acre modern Sculpture Garden.

I enjoyed the National Gallery way more than I thought I would. There were other museums in D.C. we were more interested in seeing, but I imagine if we decided to settle anywhere around the Nation’s capital I’d visit here quite frequently.

I’m not sure Lee felt the same way!

According to the Washingtonian, the National Gallery of Art contains 271,000 square feet of exhibition space.

After coat check (yay!), we roamed the Gallery’s West Building for several hour passing numerous sculptures and paintings spanning centuries.

Unfortunately for us the East Building was closed for renovations. We walked through a token display of interpretive signs for the East Building but didn’t get to see any modern art.

Dedicated in 1941, the neoclassical West Building of the National Gallery of Art itself is a piece of art. As is the rotunda with its polished limestone floors, columns of Italian marble, and Mercy Fountain.