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    A sprig of flowering rosemary lying against an ivory-white background and the twelve insects that surround it fills this horizontal painting. Stretching nearly the length of the composition with the cut end to our left, the rosemary has blunted, needle-like, gently curling teal-green leaves and small periwinkle-blue flowers along the ash-brown stem. Several insects perch on the sprig while others are seen as if looking from overhead, resting on the white background. The three largest insects perch along the top of the sprig, with an ivory-white butterfly with moss-green and black markings to the left, a black and golden, fuzzy bumblebee near the center, and a lemon-yellow butterfly with red antennae to our right. A tiny red insect, perhaps a ladybug without spots, sits on a leaf between the bee and yellow butterfly, and a small wasp-like insect rests on a leaf in at the lower left. Another mosquito-like insect alights on the surface nearby, next to a beetle with a honey-orange body with black, almost tiger-like stripes. A large cockroach sitting near the lower right corner has six spindly legs, a mahogany-colored abdomen, a black thorax, and tiny, black head. Spaced somewhat evenly across the top of the panel are a brick-red, winged insect to the left, a mint-green, beetle-like bug near a moth patterned with bone white and black, and a black, fly-like insect to our right. Lit from the upper left, the rosemary and insects cast shadows on the surface. The artist signed and dated the work with gray in the lower left corner: “J v. kessel . . f. Ao 1653.”

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    6th and Constitution Ave NW 
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    Only have an hour to spend?

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  • Exhibitions & Events

    • Exhibitions
    • Calendar
    • Kid-Friendly Events
    A sprig of flowering rosemary lying against an ivory-white background and the twelve insects that surround it fills this horizontal painting. Stretching nearly the length of the composition with the cut end to our left, the rosemary has blunted, needle-like, gently curling teal-green leaves and small periwinkle-blue flowers along the ash-brown stem. Several insects perch on the sprig while others are seen as if looking from overhead, resting on the white background. The three largest insects perch along the top of the sprig, with an ivory-white butterfly with moss-green and black markings to the left, a black and golden, fuzzy bumblebee near the center, and a lemon-yellow butterfly with red antennae to our right. A tiny red insect, perhaps a ladybug without spots, sits on a leaf between the bee and yellow butterfly, and a small wasp-like insect rests on a leaf in at the lower left. Another mosquito-like insect alights on the surface nearby, next to a beetle with a honey-orange body with black, almost tiger-like stripes. A large cockroach sitting near the lower right corner has six spindly legs, a mahogany-colored abdomen, a black thorax, and tiny, black head. Spaced somewhat evenly across the top of the panel are a brick-red, winged insect to the left, a mint-green, beetle-like bug near a moth patterned with bone white and black, and a black, fly-like insect to our right. Lit from the upper left, the rosemary and insects cast shadows on the surface. The artist signed and dated the work with gray in the lower left corner: “J v. kessel . . f. Ao 1653.”

    Featured exhibition:

    Little Beasts: Art, Wonder, and the Natural World

    Now on view

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    • Must Sees

    Open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 
    Admission is always free

    6th and Constitution Ave NW 
    Washington, DC 20565

    Only have an hour to spend?

    We've got you covered.

  • Exhibitions & Events

    • Exhibitions
    • Calendar
    • Kid-Friendly Events
    A sprig of flowering rosemary lying against an ivory-white background and the twelve insects that surround it fills this horizontal painting. Stretching nearly the length of the composition with the cut end to our left, the rosemary has blunted, needle-like, gently curling teal-green leaves and small periwinkle-blue flowers along the ash-brown stem. Several insects perch on the sprig while others are seen as if looking from overhead, resting on the white background. The three largest insects perch along the top of the sprig, with an ivory-white butterfly with moss-green and black markings to the left, a black and golden, fuzzy bumblebee near the center, and a lemon-yellow butterfly with red antennae to our right. A tiny red insect, perhaps a ladybug without spots, sits on a leaf between the bee and yellow butterfly, and a small wasp-like insect rests on a leaf in at the lower left. Another mosquito-like insect alights on the surface nearby, next to a beetle with a honey-orange body with black, almost tiger-like stripes. A large cockroach sitting near the lower right corner has six spindly legs, a mahogany-colored abdomen, a black thorax, and tiny, black head. Spaced somewhat evenly across the top of the panel are a brick-red, winged insect to the left, a mint-green, beetle-like bug near a moth patterned with bone white and black, and a black, fly-like insect to our right. Lit from the upper left, the rosemary and insects cast shadows on the surface. The artist signed and dated the work with gray in the lower left corner: “J v. kessel . . f. Ao 1653.”

    Featured exhibition:

    Little Beasts: Art, Wonder, and the Natural World

    Now on view

  • Art & Artists

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    • Artists
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    Artle

    A refreshed experience for our puzzle game

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    Painted with high-keyed, vivid color, a brown-skinned person sits painting in front of two skeletons posing in front of a wheatfield and the head and shoulders of Van Gogh in this stylized, surreal, vertical composition. The artist sits facing away from us with his knees angled to the right. He wears a wide-brimmed, straw hat, yellow-lensed glasses, a blue headphone over the ear we see, and has a light gray beard and hair. He wears a short-sleeved, red shirt patterned with sunflowers and cobalt-blue pants. He sits on a folding stool and leans away from us to paint on a canvas propped on an easel. A round palette and a tube of paint lie on the ground between the easel’s legs. The man tips forward to paint copy the pink underpants worn by one of the skeletons . Close to the painter, both skeletons stand with their bodies facing us, but they look in at each other. Their inside arms are raised, and those hands are held by their faces. The other hands float just above the hips. The skeleton on our right wears a carnation-pink foundation garment with garters, pink pumps, and a pink bow around the bare skull. The skeleton to the left wears a black bra, black pumps, a red bow on the skull, and a red and a yellow bracelet on one wrist. A pair of worn, brown boots pulled open with loose laces lies beyond this skeleton’s feet. One boot is tipped back to show a hole in the sole. Green and lemon-lime-colored grasses behind the skeletons give way to a terracotta brown and maroon-red, Y-shaped path. The long side of the Y spans the width of the painting, and the short leg winds into the distance between vivid, canary-yellow fields. Seven black birds fly low over the crops, and there is a conical dark green cypress tree near each edge of the canvas. The head and shoulders of Van Gogh loom in the sky as if he was peeking over the side of the world. His shoulders and face are angled to our left, but he looks at us with brown eyes and an exaggerated, unsettlingly wide, toothy smile. A bandage is wrapped around the side of his head, and he wears a brimmed hat, white shirt, purple vest, and dark blue jacket. A white area, perhaps smoke, rises along the back of the wheat but in front of Van Gogh’s right shoulder, to our left. The sky is painted with visible strokes in aquamarine, azure, and sapphire blue. The artist signed and dated the upper left corner, “R. Colescott 81.”
    Robert Colescott, Auvers-sur-Oise (Crow in the Wheatfield), 1981, acrylic on canvas, Corcoran Collection (Gift of the Women's Committee of the Corcoran Gallery of Art), 2014.136.152

    Auvers-sur-Oise (Crow in the Wheatfield)

    Auvers-sur-Oise (Crow in the Wheatfield)

    Robert Colescott · 1981 · acrylic on canvas ·  Accession ID  2014.136.152

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