Past Exhibitions

Learn about past exhibitions going back as far as 1941 when the National Gallery of Art first opened to the public.

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May 8 - November 27, 2011
The Gothic Spirit of John Taylor Arms
April 10 - July 24, 2011
Gabriel Metsu, 1629–1667
A young, smiling man bursts through the door of a dimly lit bedroom occupied by three women in this vertical painting. All four people have pale skin. The arched door is to our right and the man faces our left with his arms spread wide. He leans slightly forward as he holds the wide brim of his hat out by his left side, to our right. Shoulder-length chestnut-brown hair frames his face, and he wears a velvety brown jacket trimmed with tan stripes and pompoms down the front and along the sleeve we can see. A broad sash crosses his chest and tassels hang from his wide, white collar. Between us and him, a wooden chair is draped with a crimson-red cloak trimmed with white fur and bands of gold. A pewter pitcher and candlestick rest on the pine floor in front of it, near the lower right corner of the painting. The man is stopped at the door by a woman wearing a sable-brown gown with a tight-fitting bodice and a white cap on the back of her head. Her body faces the man as she leans toward him with her outstretched right hand resting on his shoulder, and she turns her smiling face back over her shoulder. Light from an open window on the left illuminates the woman in the center, who steps down from a bed enclosed by forest-green, velvet curtains trimmed with gold fringe and tassels. The curtains are parted behind her to reveal white pillows. She wears a long, gleaming white satin skirt topped by a tight-fitting coral-red bodice stitched with thin lines of gold. A white neckerchief covers her shoulders and is partially tucked into the bodice. Her head is covered by a white kerchief knotted under her chin. Her body faces us with one foot on a step stool, and the other foot reaches down to a gold and red shoe on the floor. Its mate lies nearby, pointing away from us. Her head is turned to our right to look at the man. She has a thin face with a high forehead, and small mouth is closed or pursed. Closest to us and near the lower left corner of the painting, the third woman sits alongside a small table under the open window. She wears a long, pine-green jacket trimmed with white fur over a brown skirt. Her auburn hair is partially coiled around her head, while some locks fall in bunched curls. She sits facing our right in profile with her back to the window, so her smiling face is mostly in shadow. Her left arm rests on the table, which is draped with a red and copper patterned cloth, and she holds a white comb in that hand. A mirror and round silver box sit on the table next to her. A small brown and white dog stands by her feet, its head tilted up to look at the others. The far wall of the room is covered with a faint pattern of golden brown vines and leaves against a forest-green background. The artist signed the painting on the face of the step leading up to the bed, “G. Metsu.”
March 20 - July 31, 2011
Lewis Baltz: Prototypes/Ronde de Nuit
March 13 - October 2, 2011
In the Tower: Nam June Paik
February 27 - June 5, 2011
Gauguin: Maker of Myth
Two nude women with brown skin and long black hair stand with their backs to us at a riverbank in this stylized horizontal painting. The body of the woman to our left is angled to our left with her hands raised, presumably about to plunge into the teal-colored water. The woman to our right unwraps a cloth patterned with bright yellow flowers on a deep purple background from her waist. Between the women and farther away, a bare-chested man, also with brown skin, wears a tomato-red garment across his hips as he stands hip-deep in the water holding a long spear. The top of his head is cropped by the top edge of the painting. Along the left edge of the canvas, a gnarled tree is painted as a flat field of dark, charcoal gray, and it rises off the side and top of the composition. An area of the same color, perhaps a thick root or the trunk growing nearly horizontally, spans the width of the painting, separating the women from us. The area around the trunk to our left and right is painted with fields of evergreen and cool mint. Closer to us, along the front of the root, a field of rosy pink swirls with grape purple to suggest sand. This area is dotted with harvest-yellow and pumpkin-orange vines and stylized flowers. A bunch of vivid orange flowers with pine and spring-green leaves sits on the root near the trunk, to our left. Most of the painting, especially the landscape, is painted with areas of mostly flat color. In the bottom left corner, the artist has written the title of the painting in darkred paint: “Fatata te Miki.” In the lower right corner, he signed and dated the work with periwinkle blue: “P. Gauguin 92.”
February 20 - May 30, 2011
Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals
Dozens of men with several women and a few children gather in pairs or small groups across a sun-drenched plaza in front of a domed church next to a long, pale pink building in this horizontal painting. The people’s faces and hands we can see have pale, peachy skin. The men wear hats and shin-length capes or jackets over stockings in tones of charcoal gray, olive green, butterscotch yellow, black, and brown. The women wear black capes covering their heads and long, full skirts. The ash-brown plaza has two zones where geometric patterns are picked out in a lighter, oatmeal brown. Three coral-red flagpoles are spaced along the center of the plaza parallel to the two buildings. Each flagpole rests on an olive-green base about a third of the height of the pole. Tables under open umbrellas clustered around the outer two flagpoles display piles of cloth, and a few people gather around the wares. The domed building extends into the scene from the left edge of the painting, and reaches about a third of the way across as it angles away from us. It has a central portal with nested arches, flanked to each side by a pair of slightly smaller, arched portals. Scenes against gold backgrounds appear in the archway of each of the five doors. There is a second level of arches above. The smaller arches to either side are decorated with more scenes of people against gold backgrounds. Four gold horses stand atop the central, lower arch, each with one front and one back hoof raised. The arch behind them is dim, the back side of a stained-glass window. The stone of the arches and front of the building are light brown. The upper arches are lined with pale, slate-gray spires and curling tracery. The three-story pink building sits close by to our right, extending into the distance on the same angle as the church, and as tall as its neighbor. The lowest level is a series of open, pointed arches. The second level is also a row of arches, but more closely spaced. People walk and stand under both covered walkways. The top half of the building has a carnation-pink façade with seven windows evenly spaced across its width. The central window is surrounded by carved stone ornament. Along the right edge of the painting and closer to us than the large buildings is the corner of a two-story building. The lower level is in shadow under a sloping awning, creating a merchant’s stall, and the second level has a rounded, arched window. One person stands at the front corner of the roof and looks down into the square. In the narrow gap between the row of buildings to our left and the smaller structure to our right is a winged lion atop a tall column. Beyond that is sparkling blue water with several masted ships and long, narrow gondolas. The sky above has thin white clouds against a pale blue sky. The artist signed the lower left, “A.C.F.”
February 5 - July 24, 2011
Collections Frozen in Time: Selections from the National Gallery of Art Library

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