Washington - National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art contains a large and diverse collection of European and American paintings, sculpture and decorative arts. Temporary exhibitions from countries and cultures around the globe are presented regularly. It is considered by some to be one of the world's premier museums and it is one of the most popular in the U.S.

It is composed of two separate buildings connected by a tunnel.

The West Wing is a neo-Classical structure containing primarily European art from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. The building was designed by John Russell Pope, the same man who planned the Jefferson Memorial. It opened to the public in 1941.

The core of the collection comes from that of the former secretary of the treasury, Andrew Mellon. Some of the highlights in this section include the only Da Vinci painting (Ginevra de Benci) in any American museum, works by major French Impressionists such as Monet, Degas and Renoir and other masterpieces by Rembrant, El Greco and Vermeer.

The East Wing of the Gallery is an example of modern architecture built in 1978 on the design of I M Pei and Partners. This section contains more sculpture than the West Wing, including pieces by Henry Moore and a mobile by Alexander Calder.