Past Exhibitions

1221 results found

Exhibition: Recent Acquisitions of Dutch and Flemish Drawings

Closed January 2, 2017

The image shows a landscape with a high horizon marked by rolling hills, some trees, a winding path with wooden fence posts, and small structures. Brushstrokes are loose and fluid, and the color palette includes earth tones, greens, blues, and whites.

Closed October 2, 2016

With some 50 paintings and 50 drawings, this monographic exhibition, is the first in more than 80 years to encompass Robert’s entire career and to survey his achievements as both a painter and a draftsman.

A rustic, arched, stone bridge spanning a shallow river nearly fills this horizontal landscape. From low to the ground, we look up into and through a large arch, which occupies the lower half of the picture and frames a view that opens to a wide expanse of calm, pale blue water, wooded green riverbanks, and a misty, distant view of a village and a mountain. The horizon line comes a quarter of the way up the painting, and a smoke-colored cloud formation curves like a backward C against the ice-blue sky above. The bridge structure is made from stacked, sandstone-colored stone blocks to form heavy piers. Vegetation grows on the crumbing bridge and gaps indicate other stones are missing. The bridge’s deck runs across the center of the painting, rising slightly from left to right. Atop it, occupying the top left quadrant of the painting, sits a square stone two-story tower that encloses an arched passage over the bridge’s roadway. Groups of people, small in scale, are positioned on and around the bridge. At the river level, on a platform around a bridge footing, four women do laundry. Two pull sheets from the water and two bend on their knees to wash the linens in the river. They wear long skirts of slate blue, cranberry red, and ochre yellow with pinafores and white blouses rolled up to the elbows, with their hair pinned up. A bearded man in brown trousers, white shirt, and brown hat appears to talk to them. Another woman standing nearby in a dark, slate-gray dress balances a large, dark brown ceramic ewer on her head and reaches to pick up another resting at her feet. Warm yellow light illuminates this scene and the underside of the bridge, and reflects on the river. On the bridge deck above, a brown steer is herded across the bridge by a person wearing a wide brown hat, while three people in red, slate-blue, and white clothing are about to pass through the tower passage on the left. Immediately above them, a woman in a white blouse and head scarf appears at a small balcony with what looks like a red dress draped over it and gestures with an extended arm toward a white cat crouched on a railing below. Another woman to our right, in a brown dress, white blouse, and brown hair, stands at the top of a flight of steps leading up the far side of the tower with her back toward us, and she gazes out at the view. On the water below, a small boat with several people is rowed across the river in the middle distance. In a shadowed area at the foot of the bridge, closer to us, a man stands wearing a pointed hat, blue jacket with buttons, and high boots with a sword tucked under his arm. Behind him, a woman in a dark green dress and kerchief sits on a stone step. Both look toward the scene under the bridge with the washerwomen.

In the Library: Growth and Development of the Salon Livret

Closed September 16, 2016

Intersections: Photographs and Videos from the National Gallery of Art and the Corcoran Gallery of Art

Closed January 2, 2017

This grayscale photograph shows an older man wearing dark clothing. His torso blends in with the dark background, but it appears to be facing the left. His head is turned to look at us. He has pale skin, deep-set eyes, thick eyebrows, and a thick white mustache. Small glasses sit on the bridge of his nose. His hair is short and dark. The background is a blur of black and dark gray tones.

In Celebration of Paul Mellon

Closed September 18, 2016

This drawing is a portrait showing the upper half of a woman's body. She is positioned facing us, her head turned slightly to the right. Her facial features include pale skin, blue eyes, thin eyebrows, a long nose, and pink lips in a calm expression. Her brown hair is partially hidden under a large, black, feathered hat. She is dressed in a light blue outfit with puffed sleeves and a high collar with black trim. The background is a simple, muted grayish-brown color.

Three Centuries of American Prints from the National Gallery of Art

Closed July 24, 2016

Fire burps out the top of a pair of smokestacks on two steamboats that power down a wide river at night in this color lithograph. Black smoke billows back from the flames, and steam hisses from smaller smokestacks at the back of the boats. The boat to our left is the Natchez, and writing around its name reads, “Vicksburg, Natchez and New Orleans Mail Line.” The other boat is the Eclipse. People line the decks of both as the boats race under the moonlit sky. A blanket of gray clouds breaks in front of the luminous moon. Printed text below the image reads, “A MIDNIGHT RACE ON THE MISSISSIPPI.” Tiny text printed under the lower left corner of the image reads, “F.F. PALMER DEL. FROM A SKETCH BY H.D. MANNING OF THE NATCHEZ” and “LITH. OF CURRIER & IVES, N.Y.” in the lower right.

In the Library: The Convergence of Commerce and Instruction in Art

Closed June 3, 2016

Tom Hunter: Life and Death in Hackney

Closed August 7, 2016

This photograph shows a person submerged in water with only their face, hands, and legs visible. The person is lying on their back in the water with their arms slightly lifted, positioned in the bottom left corner of the photo. They have an oval face with pale skin, closed eyes, and dark hair that blends in with the water around them. They are dressed in a dark shirt with blue pants. The surrounding area is lush with greenery, featuring tall plants and grass. Some of the plants have small white flowers. The background includes a view of buildings and a bridge or overpass, with a cloudy gray sky above.

Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World

Closed March 20, 2016

This exhibition presents some 50 bronze sculptures and related works, dating from the fourth century BC to the first century AD. They span the Hellenistic period when the art and culture of Greece spread throughout the Mediterranean and lands once conquered by Alexander the Great.