This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery.

Overview: 153 paintings by 122 artists from 25 countries presented cubism, German expressionism, Italian futurism, and other movements in modern art with outstanding works from the collection of the Museum of Modern Art. Alfred H. Barr Jr., director of museum collections, and Dorothy C. Miller, curator, organized, personally selected, and hung the exhibition to create a survey of modern painting from the impressionist generation of Claude Monet (represented with a 20-foot mural of waterlilies) and Paul Cézanne to recent work from the United States and abroad. This unusual opportunity to see important modern paintings in Washington was possible because the Museum of Modern Art was closed for 5 months of remodeling and the collection needed a haven for the duration. It was the first and only time the Museum of Modern Art lent so many of its prize paintings to a single institution.

The gala opening was canceled because of the month-long period of mourning for President John F. Kennedy.

Folder: Plan and index of the exhibition prepared by Alfred Barr.

Attendance: 181,153

Catalog: Paintings from the Museum of Modern Art, New York, by Alfred H. Barr Jr. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1963.