May 5th - National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

The National Gallery of Art

A VERY imposing building. The National Gallery of Art is located on the National Mall. The museum was established in 1938 by the United States Congress, with funds for construction and a substantial art collection donated by Andrew W. Mellon plus major art works donated by Lessing J. Rosenwald, Italian art contributions from Samuel H. Kress, and more than 2,000 sculptures, paintings, decorative art, and porcelains from Joseph E. Widener. As a result of bequests such as these, the National Gallery today houses one of the finest collections of Western painting and sculpture in the world.
Upon completion of the museum, it was accepted on behalf of the American people by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on March 17, 1941. The museum was further extended in the 1970's by the construction of the East Building which was constructed on much of the remaining land left over from the original congressional joint resolution and utilizing funds from Melton's children, Paul Melton and Alisa Melton Bruce. The addition was completed in 1978, and was opened on June 1 of that year by President Jimmy Carter. The final addition to the complex is the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden which was completed and opened to the public on May 23, 1999.We were there early, and were suitably impressed by the small portion of the collection that we had time to view. When I asked one of the guards if I could take pictures, he replied, "Certainly, take all the photos you like. It's YOUR museum!" Of course, he didn't know that I was a Canadian, but even so...... after not being able to take photos in so many of the places we have been, it was quite unexpected. Also, he mentioned that I could use flash if I so desired. I told him that I wouldn't do that, because I wasn't sure if it would damage the paintings or not, to which he just shrugged his shoulders. I'm not sure he was all in favor of the museum's policy or not!?!?
The magnificent rotunda of the building. Even though we were given freedom inside the building, we still had to go through the same security check as at all of the buildings and monuments in Washington.

I am just using a few of the photos that I took. There were so many beautiful paintings, but we didn't have that much time to spend in the Gallery, so I wasn't able to get the information on each painting. I do know about a couple of the paintings, and have put that information here.

This painting absolutely astonished me with it's lifelike clarity of stroke. It looked more like a photograph than a painting!!!
So sweet! I love the paintings that include children.
The Bedroom by Pieter de Hooch, 1629 - 1684 A Dutch Courtyard by Pieter de Hooch. This is just an "excerpt" of the painting. I didn't get the whole painting in the photo. I can't believe I cut the child out of the picture!!! Anyway, below is a photo from the NAG website that shows the whole painting.
The incredible representation of silks, and the colors in this painting absolutely amazed me! The painting is by Johannes Versronck and is called Andries Stilte as a Standard Bearer.
Another painting where the realism is so staggering. Heck, you could almost EAT the grapes!!!!
A totally amazing place. We trotted through some of the statuary rooms, too, but we definitely did NOT have enough time here. I'm not sure that even one full day would be sufficient to do this gallery justice.