Recent Acquisitions
In 80 years of its existence, the National Gallery of Art has amassed one of the world’s most significant collections of American and European masterworks of paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, prints, drawings, and photographs. Beginning with a selection of 126 paintings and 26 sculptures given by the National Gallery’s founder Andrew W. Mellon, the collection has grown to more than 145,000 works today.
Our treasures come from many diverse times and places of origin and each work of art in the permanent collection is a private donation, acquired either directly or with contributed funds. You can explore all of our acquisitions by year going back to 1939.