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National Gallery of Art, East Building Review
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National Gallery of Art, East Building
- Address: Constitution Ave. between 3rd and 4th Sts. NW, The Mall, Washington, DC | Map It
- Phone: 202/737-4215
- www.nga.gov
- Category: Museums/Galleries
- Location: The Mall
Fodor's Review:
The East Building opened in 1978 in response to the changing needs of the National Gallery, especially its growing collection of modern art. The trapezoidal shape of the site prompted architect I.M. Pei's dramatic approach: two interlocking spaces shaped like triangles provide room for galleries, auditoriums, and administrative offices. Despite its severe angularity, Pei's building is inviting. The ax-blade-like southwest corner has been darkened and polished smooth by thousands of hands irresistibly drawn to it. Inside, the sunlit atrium is dominated by a colorful 76-foot long Alexander Calder mobile, the perfect introduction to galleries filled with masterworks of modern and contemporary art.
Masterpieces from every famous name in 20th-century art -- Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Piet Mondrian, Roy Lichtenstein, Joan Miró[ac], Georgia O'Keeffe, and dozens of others -- fill the galleries. The bold shapes and brilliant teals and fuschias of Henri Matisse's giant paper cutouts make them among the most innovative, important, and purely enjoyable works of modern art. (The National Gallery's collection of these is considered the world's greatest; entering the "Matisse Room" full of colorful floor-to-ceiling works is a delight. To protect the pigments and paper of the cutouts, the works are on view only between 10 and 2 Monday through Saturday, and 11 to 3 on Sunday.) Huge, color-drenched murals by American modernist Mark Rothko glow from every wall of the Rothko gallery, a perennial favorite. World-class temporary exhibitions are a big draw. Recent years have seen the collected works of Paul Cé[ac]zanne, Henri Rousseau, Cy Twombly, Jasper Johns, Pablo Picasso, Willem de Kooning, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
To reach the East Building from the West Building, you can take the underground concourse, lined with gift shops, a café[ac], and a cafeteria, but to best appreciate the angularity of the East Building, enter from outside rather than underground: exit the West Building through its eastern doors, and cross 4th Street. (As you cross, look north: seeming to float above the Doric columns and pediment of the D.C. Superior Court are the green roof and redbrick pediment of the National Building Museum, four blocks away.) Free docent-led tours leave from the information desk weekdays at 11:30 am and 1:30 pm, and weekends at 11:30 and 3:30. Pick up the cheat sheet "What to See in An Hour": it pinpoints 15 highlights of the East Building.
- Cost: Free
- Open: Mon.-Sat. 10-5, Sun. 11-6
- Metro: Archives/Navy Memorial
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