Quotes from Henry Francis du Pont

"The vast scope of the collection gives a new understanding to and respect for the integrity of American craftsmanship."

"The general goal is to promote the broadest possible understanding of the American people through an integrated study of the culture of early America."

"A culture is fully known only as its arts are known; its arts are known only as its art objects are studied in their rich variety and social context."

"During the years I have collected, I have had many satisfactions and only one regret. The latter is for the things I might have acquired, but allowed to escape me. My satisfactions are in the contacts I have made with a great number of interesting people, in my greater consciousness of the development of our country, and in my immensely increased appreciation of the generations that have preceded."

"Hundreds of thousands of Americans, now as never before, are actively exploring their heritage; reading history, studying collections of Americana, visiting historic shrines."

"Art belongs to the center, not the periphery of life. It is not the pastime of princes, but a necessary language of the human spirit."

"A philosophy of collecting is highly subjective. Each individual who collects anything of a serious nature thinks in increasingly creative terms, almost as if his growing collection were a kind of artistic medium. This is true, I think, because a foremost drive for the collector is a love of his materials. To him these are of such beauty or importance as to cause him to preserve them, by no means for himself alone, but in order to share his discoveries. Because he believes in what he collects, he wants others to do so, too."

"It is an occasion to stimulate interest in America's arts and skills as they were developed over the years by a people divinely inspired, a body of pioneers, who learned to combine beauty and utility in fashioning a way of life that has become a symbol to all mankind."-- public comment during the official opening of the museum in 1951

"The story of Winterthur tells the greatest story of our time--the story of the American people."

"In these surroundings, so intimately connected with the lives of our forefathers, we see fine craftsmanship and soundness of workmanship; we see the economic and cultural development of our country, and in addition the symbols through which the founders of our Republic expressed their patriotism and love of country."

"Years after all the books on the Museum have been written I feel that the training and education of these young people at Winterthur will make the museum a living force through the ages."--writing about the WPEAC program

"My purpose in leaving Winterthur as a Museum to the public is to afford all those interested an opportunity to view and to study the conditions surrounding the early American home life."-- Letters and Notes to Executors and Winterthur Directors

"It seemed to me that early American arts and crafts had not been given the recognition they deserved.... I hoped, therefore, that, by preserving under one roof examples of architecture, furniture, and widely divergent early American materials of all kinds, interest in this field would be stimulated and that the magnificent contribution of our past would be helped to come into its own."

General Information

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times free to the public. They are located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. For information call (202) 737-4215 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (202) 842-6176, or visit the Gallery's Web site at www.nga.gov.

Visitors will be asked to present all carried items for inspection upon entering the East and West Buildings. Checkrooms are free of charge and located at each entrance. Luggage and other oversized bags must be presented at the 4th Street entrances to the East or West Building to permit x-ray screening and must be deposited in the checkrooms at those entrances. For the safety of visitors and the works of art, nothing may be carried into the Gallery on a visitor's back. Any bag or other items that cannot be carried reasonably and safely in some other manner must be left in the checkrooms. Items larger than 17 x 26 inches cannot be accepted by the Gallery or its checkrooms.

For additional press information please call or send inquiries to:

Press Office
National Gallery of Art
2000B South Club Drive
Landover, MD 20785
phone: (202) 842-6353 e-mail: pressinfo@nga.gov

Deborah Ziska
Chief of Press and Public Information
(202) 842-6353
ds-ziska@nga.gov

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