National Gallery of Art
Located on the National Mall in Washington D.C., the National Gallery of Art was established in 1937. The decision to create this establishment was taken by the United States Congress and the funds for construction of the building, creating the art collection and maintenance was donated by Andrew W. Mellon. A large number of people also donated arts works and prominent among these were Paul Mellon, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, Peter Arrell Brown Widener,Samuel Henry Kress, Lessing J. Rosenwald, Rush Harrison Kress, Joseph E. Widener and Chester Dale.
The collection that the gallery has traces the manner in which art developed from the Middle Ages to the present day times. The artifacts and items that are part of the collection include drawings, paintings, sculptors, photographs, prints and decorative art forms too.
The National Gallery of Art comprises of two buildings - the West Building and the East Building. The two buildings are connected by a large underground passage. The West Building was designed by John Russell Pope and contains pink Tennessee marble. The design of the building is in the shape of an elongated H and the central rotunda is like the pantheon in Rome. This is the wing that contains the collections from the medieval period. Some of the artists whose work has been displayed here include Jan Vermeer, Claude Monet, Rembrandt van Rijn, Vincent van Gogh, and Leonardo da Vinci.
The East Building is the one that has the collection of modern and contemporary art. Here one can find the works of Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Roy Lichtenstein Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol and Alexander Calder. This is also the wing that has the offices of the National Gallery of Art and the research rooms.
The National Gallery of Art is supported by funds provided by the United States federal government. The artwork and special programs are managed with the help of private donations and funds.
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