Art Research Library
The National Gallery of Art Library is a major national art research center serving the Gallery's staff, members of the Center for Advanced Study, visiting scholars, and serious adult researchers.
Reference staff responds to inquiries by telephone and via the mail. Researchers may request materials through the Library's in-house automated system and consult these materials in the reading room only. A photocopy machine is located in the reading room.
The Library contains a comprehensive collection of more than 300,000 books, periodicals, and documents on the history, theory, and criticism of art and architecture. The emphasis is on Western art from the Middle Ages to the present (particularly Italian, Dutch, Flemish, German, French, Spanish, and British schools) and American art from the colonial era to the present. Microform and videodisc collections, along with extensive vertical files, supplement the Library's book holdings.
Other strengths of the Library's collection include monographs on individual artists as well as international exhibition, museum, and private collection catalogues. The Library holds approximately 2,400 periodical titles, of which about 900 are current. It also subscribes to all categories of auction catalogues from all major American and European auction houses, and has a rich retrospective collection of catalogues from the seventeenth century to the present.
The Library also maintains a rare book room containing exceptional resources for study and research. Telephone the reference librarian for details.
Hours
Monday, noon to 4:30 p.m.
Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
(except federal holidays)
Please call the reference librarian at (202) 842-6511 to request an appointment.
Further Information
Reading Room Guidelines (PDF 80k)
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Library
National Gallery of Art
Washington, DC 20565
Telephone: (202) 842-6511
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