Privacy Policy

Thank you for visiting the National Gallery of Art Web site and reviewing our privacy policy. As an independent establishment of the United States, the National Gallery of Art is not covered by the Privacy Act of 1974.  As a matter of policy, however, the Gallery uses that Act as a guide in providing services to the public.

We will collect no personally identifying information about you when you visit our Web site unless you choose to provide that information to us. The information we collect depends upon what you do when visiting our site.

If you visit our site to browse, read, or download, we automatically collect and store only non-personally identifiable information about you, consisting only of:

• The IP address from which you access our Web site (an IP address is the number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are surfing the Web);
• The type of browser and operating system used to access our site;
• The date and time you access our site;
• The pages you visit; and
• The Internet address of the Web site from which you accessed our site

We place cookies on Web site visitor’s computers to collect aggregate information for site traffic analysis, such as the number of visitors and the number of pages viewed. (Cookies are small files that are stored in a visitor's browser.)

We use all of this information that we collect only to help us make our site more useful to visitors—to learn about the number of visitors to our site and the types of technology our visitors use. We do not track or record information about individuals and their visits. We may compile and report aggregate statistics about our users—numbers, traffic patterns, and related site information—but these statistics will include no personally identifying information.

If you identify yourself by sending an e-mail containing personal information:

You may choose to provide us with personal information in an e-mail message to one of the addresses listed throughout our site (for example, webfeedback, art information, photo requests), or by filling out a survey form with your personal information and submitting it to us through our Web site.  We use that information only to respond to your message and to help us provide you with the material you have requested.

If you identify yourself by submitting the form to make a gift to the Gallery:

You may choose to provide personal information to make an online gift to the Gallery.  This information may include your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, and credit card number.  All credit card numbers submitted are encrypted using "Secure Socket Layer" (SSL) encryption. SSL technology is an industry standard for protecting sensitive information as it is transmitted over the Internet.  Your credit card information will be temporarily stored on a secure server to process your gift. We use your credit card information only to process your gift.

We will retain your name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address that you provided to serve you better.  The Gallery may use your contact information to advise you of other opportunities to support the Gallery.  The Gallery will not share this information with any third parties except to process your gift.  When you make your online gift or any time afterward, you may request that the Gallery refrain from contacting you in the future about support opportunities by checking the appropriate box on the "Make a Gift" form or e-mailing us with this request using the "Contact Us"  option on the "Support the Gallery" pages.

Site Security

For site security purposes and to ensure that this Web site remains available to all users, the Gallery computer system employs software programs to monitor network traffic in order to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on the Gallery Web site are strictly prohibited and may be punishable by law.