Things to do / Travel Guide
Address:750 9th St., NW
Washington, District of Columbia
Tel:
(202) 275-1500
Enjoy an eclectic blend of American art from Thomas Cole, Mary Cassatt, and Winslow Homer, to Edward Hopper, Jacob Lawrence and Georgia O'Keeffe! The collection at the National Museum of American Art is a true celebration of the ethnic, geographic, and cultural diversity of America and the artists who embrace it!
Part of the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum of American Art has a broad variety of art that covers all regions and art movements found in the United States. First opened in its current location in 1968, when the Smithsonian renovated the Old Patent Office Building, the latest renovation of the building in 2006 restored much of the great architectural features, such as the porticos, a curving double staircase, colonnades, vaulted galleries, large windows, and skylights as long as a city block.
The museum houses a collection of approximately 38,000 paintings, sculptures, folk art pieces, photographs and graphics, and visitors will enjoy the George Catlin collection, which is especially extensive, as well as art by James McNeill Whistler, Mary Cassatt, Willem de Kooning and Jasper Johns. The museum also showcases a wide array of crafts from Native Americans and other ethnic minorities, as well as contemporary creations which are extremely intriguing. Kids will enjoy the giraffe made of bottle tops and the Hampton Throne, a foil-and-copper display which includes a variety of household items and numerous religious symbols.
If looking for a bite to eat, the Courtyard Café offers casual dining year-round in the new Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard, and offers a seasonal menu of American-inspired dishes, using local, organic or sustainable ingredients when possible. The National Museum of American Art is located above the Gallery Place Metro station at 8th and F Streets N.W.
From National Museum of American Art - Washington, DC:
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is dedicated exclusively to the art and artists of the United States. All regions, cultures, and traditions are represented in the museum's collections, research resources, exhibitions, and public programs. The collection features colonial portraits, nineteenth-century landscapes, American impressionism, twentieth-century realism and abstraction, New Deal projects, sculpture, photography, prints and drawings, contemporary crafts and decorative arts, African American art, Latino art, and folk art.