Introduction | 1907–1939 | 1941–1959 | 1961–1979 | 1980–1999
1961
Paul
Mellon becomes vice president of the National Gallery of Art and asks
his longtime friend John Hay Whitney to serve as trustee. Among many other
purchases, Mr. and Mrs. Mellon acquire Plum Brandy by Edouard Manet.
For the last two decades there has scarcely been an important auction sale in New York or London or Paris at which Mr. and Mrs. Mellon have not successfully bid for some remarkable works. John Rewald, 1966
1962
English Drawings and Watercolors opens at the National Gallery of Art.
The exhibition includes 100 works from British collections and 100 from
the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon.
1963
Following the death of Chester
Dale, Paul Mellon becomes president of the National Gallery.
My election as president of the National Gallery...means a little more time out of an already crowded schedule, but it is time which I am only too glad to give and which has great rewards. Paul Mellon, 1963
1964
Paul
Mellon gives the National Gallery four paintings, including two capricci
by Canaletto, to hang in the American Embassy in London. This is his first
personal gift of paintings to the museum. Mr. and Mrs. Mellon continue
to buy paintings, drawings, and sculpture, broadening their interests
to include works by American artists. They acquire Autumn by Winslow
Homer in December 1964.
1966
National Gallery president Paul Mellon and Secretary of the Interior Stewart
Udall sign a cooperative agreement for the creation of a National Sculpture
Garden. After more than thirty years of evolving plans, the National
Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden opens in 1999. The National Gallery
celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary with the exhibition French Paintings
from the Collections of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon and Mrs. Mellon Bruce.
Now our Van Goghs and everything else have been stripped from our houses, and the walls are bare and grimy where they were. As I told John [Walker], it is very embarrassing for a collector to be caught with his pictures down. Paul Mellon, 1966
1967
On 10 January 1967, in a letter to the trustees, Paul Mellon proposes
that the National Gallery should have a second building on land set aside
for this purpose. He and his sister Ailsa Mellon Bruce pledge $20 million
for its construction.
1968
Beginning in October, selected paintings from the British art collection
of Mr. and Mrs. Mellon are shown in a succession of small exhibitions
at the Gallery. Paul Mellon and other Gallery representatives visit museum
buildings designed by architects who are considered for the East Building
project, selecting I.M. Pei the next year.
Imagine the great gift Paul Mellon gave to me. The challenge of creating a building in the idiom of our time worthy of standing next to one of the nest classical buildings of this country....And not only did he give me that chance, most of all, he gave me his confidence, his unequaled generosity, and throughout the process, his friendship, which I came to value above all. I.M.Pei, 1999
1969
Following Ailsa Mellon Bruce's death, the Old Dominion Foundation and
the Avalon Foundation merge to become The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
The new foundation continues generous support of Gallery activities.
1970
The Gallery's trustees create a Building Committee for the new East Building,
with Paul Mellon as chairman.
[Paul Mellon's] involvement in the building [was] almost total. He was chairman of the building committee; we normally scheduled meetings ten times a year. The last seven years he has not missed a meeting. Unusual? Unheard of in my business! I.M. Pei, 1978
I understand that we had something like seventy meetings [of the Building Committee]....Everybody points out that I went to every meeting. But of course, what happened was that they wouldn't have [laughing] a meeting unless they made sure that I was going to be there! Paul Mellon, 1988
On
Paul Mellon's initiative and through his generosity, the Gallery acquires The
Artist's Father, a life-size portrait by Paul Cézanne.
Mr. and Mrs. Mellon also give the Gallery Paul Cézanne's portrait Antony Valabrègue, which they acquired in 1966, the first in a series of important gifts of paintings carefully selected from their collection.
You notice that I've repeatedly said "we" and "us" because it is certainly no secret that Bunny has always had a tremendous influence on the quality and scope of the collection. It was her enthusiasm and taste and intuitive gifts which in the beginning ignited my own latent inclination like a match to dry tinder and made inevitable a long, cooperative search for these glowing objects. Paul Mellon, 1986
1971
In January 1971, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation gives the Gallery a $200,000
grant to develop a major national art library in connection with the Center
for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts in its new East Building. Ground
is broken for the East Building.
1978
Paul Mellon officially turns the East Building over to President Jimmy
Carter, "to be dedicated forever to the use and enjoyment of the
people of the United States."
1979
Paul Mellon becomes chairman of the National Gallery of Art.
Paul has always seemed to me the ideal trustee. He has firm and sensible beliefs about policy, which he expresses clearly; these beliefs are not inflexible and he gives full weight to the ideas of the professional staff. Once a policy is determined, however, he does not interfere in its execution. John Walker, 1974
On 25 January, The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust gives a $5 million grant for the renovation of the Ground Floor of the West Building. With this terminal grant, the trust's total gifts to the National Gallery from 1930 to 1980 amount to more than $84 million. In October, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation gives a grant to support staff activities, and stipends for five scholars at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts.
Introduction | 1907–1939 | 1941–1959 | 1961–1979 | 1980–1999