Renovation Information
Over the next several years, sections of the Gallery's East and West Buildings will close for renovation. Please check for updates and additional details on this page (below) or at the Information Desks when you visit.
Interior Renovations
West Building
The Main Floor coat check near the Mall Entrance as well as the Founders Room and the volunteer lounge are currently closed for renovations. The coat check is located across the lobby in the Information Room. Visitors will be redirected there. The volunteer lounge has been relocated adjacent to the West Building Lecture Hall off the Central Gallery. These spaces will re-open in late summer 2008.
Crosscurrents: American and European Masterpieces from the Permanent Collection
From March 14, 2007 through January 1, 2009, some of the most notable paintings from the National Gallery of Art’s American, British, Spanish, and 18th- and early 19th-century French collections are now on view in the Ground Floor central galleries of the West Building while the Main Floor galleries undergo renovation. These include Thomas Cole's Voyage of Life and John Singleton Copley's Watson and the Shark, as well as masterworks by Gilbert Stuart, James McNeill Whistler, John Singer Sargent, Albert Bierstadt, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Francisco de Goya, and other American, British, and Continental European artists.
Homer, Eakins, and Bellows: American Paintings, 1870–1925, from the National Gallery of Art Permanent Collection
This selection of paintings highlights the depth and richness of the Gallery's collection of works by the American masters Winslow Homer (1836–1910), Thomas Eakins (1844–1916), and George Bellows (1882–1925)
The Shaw Memorial
The Shaw Memorial will be off view during renovation of Gallery 66 on the Main Floor of the West Building, from March 1, 2007, through Fall 2008.
East Building
The east portion of the East Building Ground Floor will be closed on May 14th and 15th.
Two outdoor sculptures by Tony Smith are currently undergoing major conservation treatment. Moondog was removed from the Sculpture Garden on September 11, 2007, and Wandering Rocks was de-installed from the grounds south of the East Building on September 25, 2007, both for off-site conservation.
In the eight years since Moondog was installed in the Sculpture Garden, and in the six years since Wandering Rocks was repainted, the paint layers on both sculptures had become faded, streaked, and susceptible to marring. There were also numerous localized damages caused by visitors handling and climbing on the sculptures. The treatments, which are being supervised by the objects conservation department of the National Gallery of Art, will return the sculptures to their original appearance, maintaining the color and gloss level intended by the artist.
We anticipate that both treatments will be complete and both sculptures reinstalled sometime in late spring or summer 2008.
For specific information, e-mail the Gallery at der-info@nga.gov, telephone (202) 842-6179, or inquire at the Art Information Desks.
Updated 5/19/08