The East Building

Rendering of the street view of the East Building from Pennsylvania Avenue NW, showing the new Sculpture Terrace. Image by Hartman-Cox Architects. © 2013 National Gallery of Art, Washington.

Rendering of the new Sculpture Terrace of the East Building. Image by Hartman-Cox Architects. © 2013 National Gallery of Art, Washington.

Rendering showing an aerial view of the new Sculpture Terrace of the East Building. Image by Hartman-Cox Architects. © 2013 National Gallery of Art, Washington.

German artist Katharina Fritsch's Hahn/Cock as it appeared on Trafalgar Square's Fourth Plinth in London in 2013. The artwork is a sculptural portrait of the domestic cockerel or rooster. Fritsch describes Hahn/Cock as reflecting an image of ourselves: "people can see themselves, their character in animals." The sculpture is one of several to be installed on the new Roof Terrace of the East Building. Hahn/Cock‎, on loan to the National Gallery of Art from Glenstone Museum, will go on view in July, two months ahead of the East Building reopening. © EPA/ANDY RAIN.

German artist Katharina Fritsch's Hahn/Cock as it appeared on Trafalgar Square's Fourth Plinth in London in 2013. The artwork is a sculptural portrait of the domestic cockerel or rooster. Fritsch describes Hahn/Cock as reflecting an image of ourselves: "people can see themselves, their character in animals." The sculpture is one of several to be installed on the new Roof Terrace of the East Building. Hahn/Cock‎, on loan to the National Gallery of Art from Glenstone Museum, will go on view in July, two months ahead of the East Building reopening. © EPA/ANDY RAIN.

Aerial view of the East Building with planned new Tower Galleries flanking the sculpture terrace along Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Photo by P. Y. Chin, architect. © 2013 National Gallery of Art, Washington.

A new Tower Gallery in Pod 1 of the National Gallery of Art’s East Building, located near the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 3rd Street NW, will be created in the lay-light area between the ceiling of the Upper Level galleries and the skylights above. Along with another Tower Gallery and an outdoor terrace, the Gallery will add some 12,250 square feet of new exhibition space by 2017. Photo by Rob Shelley. © 2013 National Gallery of Art, Washington.

A new Tower Gallery in Pod 1 of the National Gallery of Art’s East Building, located near the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 3rd Street NW, will be created in the lay-light area between the ceiling of the Upper Level galleries and the skylights above. Along with another Tower Gallery and an outdoor terrace, the Gallery will add some 12,250 square feet of new exhibition space by 2017. Photo by Rob Shelley. © 2013 National Gallery of Art, Washington.

Rendering of the interior of the new Pod 1 Tower Gallery in the East Building, featuring works by Mark Rothko from the permanent collection of modern and contemporary art. Image by Hartman-Cox Architects. © 2013 National Gallery of Art, Washington.

The East Building of the National Gallery of Art, designed by I. M. Pei. Photo © Dennis Brack/Black Star. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gallery Archives.

Designed by I. M. Pei, the East Building of the National Gallery of Art has a dramatic glow at sunset due to its Tennessee pink marble, taken from the same quarries that provided stone for the West Building. Photo © Dennis Brack/Black Star. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gallery Archives.

A view of the National Gallery of Art East Building and US Capitol dome at night. The "knife edge," the signature southwest corner of the East Building, cleaves the air at 19.5 degrees to a height of 116 feet. It may be the sharpest corner of any building in the world. Photo © Dennis Brack/Black Star. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gallery Archives.

I. M. Pei & Partners, National Gallery of Art East Building Design Team Sketch for the East Building, fall 1968, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gallery Archives, Gift of I. M. Pei & Partners.

Paul Mellon speaking at the podium during the National Gallery of Art East Building Opening Dedication Ceremony, June 1, 1978. President Jimmy Carter and Reverend John T. Walker are pictured behind Mellon. Photo by Bill Sumits, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gallery Archives.

Architect I.M. Pei in the East Building of the National Gallery of Art on opening day, June 1, 1978. Photo © Dennis Brack/Black Star. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gallery Archives.

Alexander Calder's giant mobile gracefully presides over the atrium of the East Building, shown here in 1993 during the exhibition Great French Paintings from the Barnes Foundation: Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and Early Modern, May 2–August 15, 1993. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gallery Archives.