:  Welcome to the nation’s art museum

Discover some of the most iconic and important works in the world, in the heart of Washington, DC.

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:  Sculpture Garden Extended Hours

Open late until 8:00 p.m. on select nights

Through September 5

Extended Hours Through September 5

Visit the Sculpture Garden until 8:00 p.m. on select nights this summer.
The soaring, gilded vault of a central aisle of the inside of a church fills this horizontal painting. The ceiling of the nave curves up and away from us like a tunnel. It is lined with coffers, which have inset panels, decorated with gold. The light-filled nave angles down from the top center of the composition toward the lower left as it moves away from us. The white stone pillars supporting the barrel vault are intricately carved and decorated with pudgy, winged cherubs holding portraits of men, and aisles run parallel to the central nave to our left and right. In the side aisles, pink marble columns flank altars in chapels. At the far end of the church, the nave is interrupted where it opens into the light-filled crossing, before continuing beyond. Marking the space where the long hall of the church is intersected by a shorter arm to create a cross shape is a structure made of four twisting columns supporting a pointed canopy, all cast in bronze. Tiny men and women pray or gather in pairs and small groups along the nave. Some wear tattered clothing and others are elegantly dressed.

Talks & Conversations:  Finding Awe: Giovanni Paolo Panini’s Rome

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Talks & Conversations:  Mitch Epstein, In Conversation with History: Photographing American Culture and the American Landscape

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canceled

Concerts & Performances:  Orquesta Manplesa

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Films:  Robert Wilson and the Civil Wars 

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Films:  Every Contact Leaves a Trace with Grazing on Images 

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Films:  Barbara Forever! 

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Find out about our free talks, tours, exhibitions, and more.

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A fleet of ships gathers in a river lined by trees and buildings in this horizontal painting. The horizon is low, less than a quarter of the way up the composition, and the immense pale blue sky above is filled with clouds with golden tops above dove-gray undersides. The river spans the width of the painting and is congested with boats and ships, many festooned with red, white, and blue flags and banners. The vessels are crowded with people, mostly men wearing hats and black or brown garments. A ship to our right is closest to us and is the largest in the composition. A rowboat has pulled up to the side of the ship, and is occupied by a seated man wearing crimson red and a standing man wearing black. Another man, wearing brown, pulls the rowboat closer to the ship. Amid the densely packed deck over the rowboat, a musician plays a drum while another drinks from a flagon. Ships with unfurled sails, rowboats, and ferries fill the river behind and around the large ship. Churches and buildings are clustered along the riverbank to the left and trees line the river to the right.

Discover our artworks.

Our extraordinary collection brings together centuries of masterpieces from around the world. 

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Dash through worlds inspired by our artworks in this interactive game of chase.

Color Catch National Gallery of Art

A few of our favorites

A windmill stands on a promontory cutting into a waterway under a partially stormy sky in this square landcape painting. The promontory and mill are painted in muted tones of brown and rust orange, while steel-gray and white clouds encircle a topaz-blue sky above. The promontory juts into the scene from our left, and the front of the windmill is angled to our right so its golden-tan sails catch the light. Silvery water winds around the base of the promontory and extends to a dark green, shadowy bank on the far side. A boat in the lower right corner of the composition is rowed by a man wearing a red jacket and cap. A path runs to the water’s edge from the left edge of the painting, in front of the promontory’s retaining wall, which is shored up with stones or panels. A person in dark clothing close to the windmill seems to rest their arms on the retaining wall, their back to us. Closer to us, a woman holds a child’s hand as they walk down the path to the bank. A bearded man with tattered brown clothes and bare feet stands leaning against the wall near a woman wearing burnt-orange garment. She sits or kneels at the water’s edge in front of a basket of clothes and holds up a brown cloth. The olive-green forms of the trees on the far bank are reflected in the water, and closer inspection reveals two cows near the water there. Charcoal-gray clouds pile up along the left of the painting and span the top edge. There is a brilliant blue sky beyond and a screen of white clouds near the horizon, which comes about a third of the way up the canvas.
Rembrandt van Rijn, The Mill, 1645/1648, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.62
Edgar Degas, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, 1878-1881, pigmented beeswax, clay, metal armature, rope, paintbrushes, human hair, silk and linen ribbon, cotton faille bodice, cotton and silk tutu, linen slippers, on wooden base, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1999.80.28
Shown from the knees up, a woman with brown, wrinkled skin, wearing a white blouse, apron, and black skirt is shown in front of a pale gray background in this vertical portrait painting. Straight-backed, she faces and looks at us with her hands resting in her lap. Her wavy, iron-gray hair is parted in the center and pulled back from her face. Her eyebrows are slightly raised, and her face is deeply lined down her cheeks and around her mouth. She wears a heart-shaped brooch with a red stone at its center at her neck and a gold band on her left ring finger. The light coming from our left casts a shadow against the wall to our right. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower right corner: “A.J. MOTLEY. JR. 1922.”
Archibald John Motley Jr., Portrait of My Grandmother, 1922, oil on canvas, Patrons' Permanent Fund, Avalon Fund, and Motley Fund, 2018.2.1
Two women with pale skin look out at us from the other side of a rectangular window opening with a shadowy interior behind them in this vertical painting. On our right, in the lower third of the composition, one young woman leans toward us over her left arm, which rests along the window ledge. She bends her right arm and props her chin on her fist. She looks at us with dark brown eyes under dark brows. She has shiny chestnut-brown hair with a strawberry-red bow on the right side of her head, to our left. She has a straight nose, and her full pink lips curve up in a smile. She wears a gossamer-white dress with a wide neckline trimmed in dark gray, with another red bow on the front of her chest. Her voluminous sleeves are pushed back to her elbows. To our left, a second woman peeks around a partially opened shutter. She is slightly older, and she stands next to the first woman with her body facing us. She tilts her head and also gazes at us with dark eyes under dark brown brows. She has dark brown hair covered by an oyster-white shawl. She holds the shawl up with her right hand to cover the bottom half of her face. Her mouth is hidden but her eyes crinkle as if in a smile. Her left arm bends at the elbow as she grasps the open shutter. She also wears a white shirt pushed back to her elbows, and a rose-pink skirt. The frame of the window runs parallel to the sides and bottom of the canvas. The room behind them is black in shadow.
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Two Women at a Window, c. 1655/1660, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.46
An elegantly dressed Black man and woman stand facing and looking at us, slightly smiling, in a room in this vertical photograph. The image is monochromatic like a black and white photograph but is printed in warm tones of golden and dark browns. To our left, the man has short-cropped hair and is cleanshaven. He has dark eyes, a rounded nose, and his lips are closed in a slight smile. He wears a three-piece tuxedo and holds a bowler hat and cane in his right hand, on our left. He pulls his suit jacket back to hook his other thumb in his vest pocket. He wears rings on each of his pinky fingers and a chain crosses his vest, tucked into the same pocket as his thumb. The woman stands with her left hand, on our right, on her hip and her other hand resting on the man’s shoulder. She has a delicate nose, dark eyes, and her closed lips turn up slightly at the corners. She has a cheek-length bob haircut and wears dangling earrings and a necklace with a pendant. Her ankle-length, sleeveless dress is beaded with geometric and scrolling patterns. Some of the beads and the ring she wears on the third finger of the hand on her hip catch and reflect the light. An upholstered chair sits to our left and a wood side table with an urn filled with flowers and a telephone stands to our right. The telephone has a conical earpiece hanging from a stand with a flaring mouthpiece. The backdrop behind the people has a painted or wallpapered section to our left and an arch leading to a curtained window to our right. Parts of the photograph are noticeably out of focus, particularly in the background and the flowers. The artist signed the work with white letters against the dark shadows under the seat of the chair, near the lower left corner: “VAN DER ZEE NYC 1924.”
James Van Der Zee, Portrait of a Couple, 1924, gelatin silver print, Robert B. Menschel Fund, 2000.83.1
This painting is a portrait of a seated woman, her body turned slightly to the right and her head looking towards us. She has a fair complexion, with round, rosy cheeks, pale eyebrows, large green eyes, and thin pink lips in a neutral expression. Her light blonde hair is styled in short curls close to her head and adorned with pearls and a clip or barrette in the shape of small leaves. She is dressed in a cream-colored dress with intricate embroidery in shades of brown, gold, and black. On top of the dress is a long black garment that flows over her shoulders and upper arms and has a high collar, decorative buttons, and more embroidery. Her gown is paired with a ruffled white collar and lace at her neckline and wrists. Long gold chains drape across her chest, and she wears a pearl necklace around her neck and two small golden rings on her fingers. In her left hand, our right, she holds a small book, while a lace handkerchief is in her right hand, our left. She wears pearl earrings, strands of pearl bracelets, and a decorative brooch in the shape of a white dog with a pink bow. The seat she sits on is wooden with dark red cushions decorated with golden tassels and embroidery, behind her on the left is a draped green cloth, and on the right, a table is covered with music sheets, a stringed instrument, books, and small blue and yellow ribbons. The wall behind the table is brown, and there is some gold lettering in the top right corner.
Lavinia Fontana, Lucia Bonasoni Garzoni, c. 1590, oil on canvas , Gift of Funds from Anonymous in memory of Montana Walker Strauss, and Patrons' Permanent Fund, 2022.38.1
We look onto the side of a rowboat crowded with nine men trying to save a pale, nude young man who flails in the water in front of us as a shark approaches, mouth agape, from our right in this horizontal painting. In the water, the man floats with his chest facing the sky, his right arm overhead and the other stretched out by his side. Extending to our left, his left leg is bent and the right leg is straight, disappearing below the knee. His long blond hair swirls in the water and he arches his back, his wide-open eyes looking toward the shark behind him. To our right, the shark rolls up out of the water with its gaping jaws showing rows of pointed teeth. In the boat, eight of the men have light or tanned complexions, and one man has dark brown skin. The man with brown skin stands at the back center of the boat, and he holds one end of a rope, which falls across the boat and around the upper arm of the man in the water. Another man stands at the stern of the boat, to our right, poised with a long, hooked harpoon over the side of the boat, ready to strike the shark. His long dark hair blows back and he wears a navy-blue jacket with brass buttons, white breeches, blue stockings, and his shoes have silver buckles. Two other men wearing white shirts with blousy sleeves lean over the side of the boat, bracing each other as they reach toward the man in the water. An older, balding man holds the shirt and body of one of this pair and looks on, his mouth open. The other men hold long oars and look into the water with furrowed brows. The tip of a shark’s tail slices through the water to our right of the boat, near the right edge of the canvas. Along the horizon line, which comes three-quarters of the way up the composition, buildings and tall spires line the harbor. The masts of boats at port creates a row of crosses against the light blue sky. Steely gray clouds sweep across the upper left corner of the canvas and the sky lightens to pale, butter yellow at the horizon.
John Singleton Copley, Watson and the Shark, 1778, oil on canvas, Ferdinand Lammot Belin Fund, 1963.6.1
Carved from creamy white marble, a nude woman stands next to a hip-high support, perhaps a low post. In this photograph, her body faces us, and she looks down to our right in profile. Her wavy hair is tucked behind her ear and drawn back in a bun at the nape of her neck. Her weight rests on her left leg, on our right, and her other knee is bent. Her left arm is angled in front of her body so her hand covers her groin. Her other hand, on our left, rests on the post. Chains hang from shackles encircling her wrists. The post is covered with a cloth that gathers around the top and spirals to the ground beneath her feet, the edge trimmed with tassels. A cross and medallion peek out from under the cloth near her hand. She stands on a circular base.
Hiram Powers, The Greek Slave, model 1841-1843, carved 1846, Seravezza marble, Corcoran Collection (Gift of William Wilson Corcoran), 2014.79.37

More ways to explore

Play Artle

Four artworks, one artist to discover. Test your knowledge with a new puzzle every day. 

From low on a hillside, we look up at a light-skinned woman and boy standing in tall grass against a sunny blue sky in this vertical painting. The woman stands at the center of the composition, and the moss-green parasol she holds over her head almost brushes the top edge of the canvas. Her body faces our left but she turns her head to look at us. Her long dress is painted largely with strokes of pale blue and gray with a few touches of yellow. Her voluminous skirts swirl around her legs to our left. She holds the parasol with both hands, and her brown hair is covered with a hat. Long strokes of white paint across her face suggest a veil fluttering in the breeze. The tall grass she stands in is dotted with buttercup yellow and plum purple, and she casts a long diagonal shadow along the grass toward us. The young boy seems to stand on the other side of the hill, since the grass and flowers comes up to his waist. He wears a white jacket and pale yellow straw hat. His arms are by his sides, and he seems to look off into the distance to our left. A sunny blue sky behind the people is dotted with bright blue clouds. The painting is created with loose brushstrokes throughout, and they are especially choppy in the clouds. The artist signed and dated the painting in royal-blue letters at the lower right: “Claude Monet 75.”

Download free images

Nearly 60,000 high-resolution images from our collection are available to download for free.

Open Call

Out of more than 1,600 submissions from across the country, 50 creators were selected to reinterpret works from our collection through original short-form videos.

America's 250th :  Celebrating American art and artists

No one tells America’s story like its artists.  Join us as we explore 250 years of American creativity from across the nation.

A flatboat with eight light-skinned men floats toward us down a wide river in this horizontal painting. The boat nearly spans the width of the composition and has low sides and a shallowly arched, low cabin upon which the men gather. At the center, a man with dark hair and wearing light blue trousers and a pink shirt dances with one foot and both arms raised. To our right a seated musician plays a fiddle, and to our left a smiling man holds up a metal pot and strikes the flat bottom with the back of his fingers. The remaining men sit or recline around the musicians and dancing man, some looking toward the dancer and two looking out at us. Bedrolls and animal skins are stored in the cabin below. The olive-green surface of the river is streaked with pale blue. The horizon line comes about a third of the way up the composition. The trees and riverbanks in the distance are hazy beneath a watery blue sky.

Art uncovered

Peek behind the scenes with stories and videos that reveal the people, ideas, and moments that shaped our collection.

Explore our stories

Storytellers in Residence

Two storytellers visit the museum and unearth new ways to understand art.

Article:  Summer in Art: Dive into Scenes of the Season

Artists from Mary Cassatt to Roy Lichtenstein have spent the warmer months making works about busy beaches, ripe raspberries, fresh flowers, and other signs of the season.

Article:  Your Guide to Summer at the National Gallery

Our nine tips for bringing art, music, and joy to your summer.

A student smiles in front of a painted mural at Altadena Elementary School

Video:  How a Mural Healed a Community

After a wildfire destroyed their elementary school, a group of young artists came together to rebuild—by painting a mural inspired by Mary Cassatt’s lost masterpiece.

Interactive Article:  The Most Famous Sculpture of the 19th Century

This marble sculpture symbolizes everything from the Greek War of Independence to the fight for emancipation in America.

Video:  D.I.Y. Art: Mosaics Inspired by Alma Thomas

Watch and learn how to make mosaics inspired by Alma Thomas's 1969 work Pansies in Washington.

A collage of two photos. On the left, Megan O'Cain drafts her concept for her butter dress. On the right, Megan poses a model wearing the butter dress and reclining on a grassy lawn.

Article:  How I Made This: Megan O’Cain’s “Mound of Butter” Fever Dream Ruffle Dress

Open Call finalist Megan O’Cain explains how a 19th-century portrait of butter stopped her in her tracks—and how she spun it into a whimsical maximalist dress.