In Celebration of Paul Mellon

May 8 – September 18, 2016
West Building, Main Floor, Northeast Galleries

Mary Cassatt, *The Black Hat*, c. 1890, pastel, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

Michel Wolgemut, German, 1434 – 1519, Wilhelm Pleydenwurff, German, c. 1458 – 1494, and Albrecht Dürer, German, 1471 – 1528, View of Nuremberg, 1493, hand-colored woodcut in Hartmann Schedel, Liber Chronicarum (Nuremberg Chronicle) (Nuremburg: Anton Koberger, 1493), Paul Mellon Collection, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, 1991

In Celebration of Paul Mellon

Julius Caesar Ibbetson, British, 1759 – 1817, Skaters on the Serpentine in Hyde Park, 1786, watercolor with pen and ink. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Paul Mellon, 1987

In Celebration of Paul Mellon

John Constable, British, 1776 – 1837, A Great Oak Tree, c. 1801, chalk with wash. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Paul Mellon, 1985

In Celebration of Paul Mellon

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, French, 1780 – 1867, Self-Portrait, 1822, graphite. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1995

In Celebration of Paul Mellon

Édouard Manet, French, 1832 – 1883, The Balloon, 1862, lithograph. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1995

In Celebration of Paul Mellon

Winslow Homer, American, 1836 – 1910, On the Stile, 1878, watercolor and gouache over graphite. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1994

In Celebration of Paul Mellon

Edgar Degas, French, 1834 – 1917, The Curtain, c. 1880, pastel over monotype. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 2006

In Celebration of Paul Mellon

Paul Cézanne, French, 1839 – 1906, Self-Portrait, 1880 /1882, graphite. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985

In Celebration of Paul Mellon

James McNeill Whistler, American, 1834 – 1903, Study in Black and Gold (Madge O’Donoghue), 1883/1884, watercolor and gouache. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, 1991

In Celebration of Paul Mellon

Vincent van Gogh, Dutch, 1853 – 1890, Harvest — The Plain of La Crau, 1888, reed pen and ink over graphite. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, 1992

In Celebration of Paul Mellon

Mary Cassatt, American, 1844 – 1926, The Black Hat, c. 1890, pastel. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985

In Celebration of Paul Mellon

Pierre Bonnard, French, 1867 – 1947, A Promenade in Fancy Hats, 1891/1893, pen and brush with ink over graphite. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1995

In Celebration of Paul Mellon

Jacques Villon, French, 1875 – 1963, The Cards, 1903, color etching and aquatint. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985

In Celebration of Paul Mellon

Pablo Picasso, Spanish, 1881 – 1973, The Death of Harlequin, 1905, gouache over charcoal. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1996

In Celebration of Paul Mellon

Odilon Redon, French, 1840 – 1916, A Flight of Butterflies, c. 1912, watercolor. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985

In Celebration of Paul Mellon

Georges Braque, French, 1882 – 1963, Aria de Bach, 1913 collage with charcoal and chalk. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1982

In Celebration of Paul Mellon

George Bellows, American, 1882 – 1925, Dempsey and Firpo, 1923/1924, lithograph. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1983

In Celebration of Paul Mellon

Paul Klee, Swiss, 1879 – 1940, Dampfer und Segelböte (Steamboat and Sailboats), 1931, watercolor. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1983

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

Overview: Paul Mellon played many crucial roles at the National Gallery of Art in carrying out the founding vision of his father, Andrew, who had laid plans for the museum before his death in 1937. The younger Mellon was a major donor of funds and works of art, a valiant advocate for the Gallery’s architecture (both the East and West Buildings), and a supporter of its programs for scholars and for all who appreciate fine art. Renowned as a collector, Paul Mellon (1907–1999), with his late wife Rachel Lambert (“Bunny”), was also among the most generous donors to the Gallery. Paintings and sculptures from their collection are always on view throughout the Gallery’s permanent installations. A great number of Paul Mellon's gifts, however, are works of art on paper, which, because of their sensitivity to light, cannot be constantly displayed. Timed to coincide with the Gallery’s 75th anniversary, this celebratory exhibition brings together some 80 of the finest pastels, watercolors, drawings, prints, and illustrated books given to the Gallery by Paul Mellon. Among the works on display are evocative watercolors by Winslow Homer and Édouard Manet, powerful portrait drawings by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Edgar Degas, sporting lithographs by George Bellows, a pen landscape by Vincent van Gogh, and cubist compositions by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.