National Gallery off Art

The National Gallery off Art (NGA) is one of the most important museums of Washington D.C, with the the United States. It is managed by the federal government of the United States and its entry is free. The collections are distributed in two buildings connected by an underground gallery under the Mall : the building Is ( East Building ) and the Western building ( West Building ). The NGA is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution.

History

It was founded by the American Congress in 1937, thanks to the donations of Andrew W. Melon. Samuel H. Kress is at the origin of an important part of the Italian collections. The Western building was inaugurated by the president Franklin D. Roosevelt and opened her doors the March 17th 1941 and was drawn by the architect John Russell Pope in the neo-classic style : it is composed of a large gantry and a dome which takes as a starting point the the Pantheon of Rome. As for the building Is, it is much more recent since it was conceived by Ieoh Ming Pei and opened in 1978. A garden ( National Gallery off Art Sculpture Garden ) decorated sculptures of Joan Miro, Louise Bourgeois, Roy Lichtenstein and Hector Guimard was added to the whole in 1999.

In 1969, J. Carter Brown becomes the president of the National Gallery. This one seeks to attract the most visitors with the museum and organizes for that of the dinners and great temporary exhibitions: the first of them is devoted to the African sculpture. During the inaugural exposure of the Eastern wing in 1978: 620000 people has a presentiment of themselves with the museum. The exposure Rodin redécouvert attracts a million visitors. The receipts increase just as the gifts and the federal subsidies. The collections grow rich by: 20000 additional fabrics.

The museum today

The National Gallery is the only American museum directly subsidized by the federal state to a total value of 111 million dollars. The endowment of the museum rises with nearly 600 million dollars. If the temporary exhibitions are paying, the access to the permanent collections remains as for him free.

The western building shelters the collections of European art, which extend from the Moyen-âge at the 19th century. One can appreciate there chiefs of work of Vermeer, Rembrandt, Monet, Van Gogh, as well as the only painting of Léonard de Vinci on the American ground.

The east part exposes various achievements of the modern art and contemporary: Picasso, Matisse, Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, and Alexander Calder is the principal painters represented. It is as in this part of the museum as the offices and the center of studies of the NGA are.

Some tables at the National Gallery off Art

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