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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Master Drawings from the Armand Hammer Collection
Closed February 19, 1989
The image shows a perspective drawing of a large bridge with a rider on horseback statue atop it. The drawing emphasizes the detailed architecture of the bridge and the statue. Parts of the bridge's structure are highlighted with fine, controlled lines and shading. The color scheme is monochromatic with sepia tones, giving the drawing a historical feel. Figures and stone sculptures are seen close to the viewer, adding scale and liveliness to the scene. Background arches draw the eye into the distance, while the sky is lightly sketched to keep the focus on the bridge.
Twentieth-Century Art: Selections for the Tenth Anniversary of the East Building
Closed December 31, 1990
Tall trunks and the canopies trees sweep to our left in a stiff wind in this horizontal landscape painting. The bottom half of the canvas is packed solid with leafy trees. Several spindly trunks shoot high above the canopy against a sky mottled with a sheet of pale gray clouds. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower left corner, “F. VALLOTTON. 10.”
The Art of Paolo Veronese, 1528-1588
Closed February 20, 1989
A man stabs a woman, Saint Lucy, in the chest while another man, a priest, holds a gold cup and offers her a small white wafer in this horizontal painting. Two man flank the priest, and the group is in front of a town square. Saint Lucy has pale skin and the men have tanned skin. In the center, Saint Lucy faces us and kneels with her body angled to our right. She turns her head away from us and toward the communion wafer with hermouth slightly open. Her copper-red hair is pulled back under a golden-brown cloth, which falls over her shoulders. The bodice of her thistle-purple gown has been pulled down, and blood trickles from the dagger held there. Her long sleeves are lined at the cuffs with white ruffles, and her skirt puddles on the ground. The gown has a sheen, suggesting satin or silk. She holds one hand down by her side, palm facing us, and holds up the gold cloth by her chest with the other. The man with the dagger is to our left. He hunches over Saint Lucy, stepping onto his front foot from behind her shoulder. He has dark hair, and his face is in shadow. His white shirt and butterscotch-yellow clothing expose the muscular shoulder of the stabbing arm. His pants end at the shin, and his feet are bare. To our right, the priest is balding with a white beard. His face is lined as he looks down at Saint Lucy, his head tipped toward us. He wears a white robe with a gold stole. A man wearing celestial blue and holding a thick candle kneels facing away from us between us and the priest. Another man wearing red and plum purple looks at Saint Lucy from under dark, lowered brows on the far side of the priest. Across from this group, a sixth person edges into the scene from our left, so only their profile, a shoulder, and a hand are visible. Deep in shadows, they seem to look into the town square. That space is lined with tall stone buildings to our right and an arch on the far side. A few people and oxen gather around a woman wearing pink, who stands on a platform in the square. Two more people sit atop a platform above the woman, flanking an upward shooting pink stream, like a wide ribbon. Thin white and gray clouds veil the shadowy, marine-blue sky in the upper left quadrant.
Nineteenth-Century Drawings from the Armand Hammer Collection
Closed May 1, 1989
The image features two figures from the waist up, depicted in expressive sketches. The person on the left is leaning back, looking at the other figure. They have a bun hairstyle and wear a long-sleeved dress. The figure on the right has their back partially facing the viewer, also looking towards the left. They have their hair tied back and wear a dress with billowing sleeves. The background is a textured surface.
The Pastoral Landscape
Closed January 22, 1989
This horizontal landscape is painted with dots and dashes in fresh green, shimmering blue, amethyst purple, shell pink, pale yellow, and cream white against the brown wood of the panel, which is visible throughout. Though loosely painted, a scene with a grassy area hemmed to our left and along the back with a body of water comes into focus. A person sits near the bank to our left. Daubs in violet could be more people walking in the near distance among trees. An arc of white suggests a sailboat near the shoreline off to our left. The artist signed the painting in red in the lower left, “Seurat.”
Japan
Closed January 23, 1989
Raphaelle Peale Still Lifes
Closed January 29, 1989
A shallow bowl filled with oranges, grapes, and nuts is surrounded by a short, flaring glass, a glass decanter, a lemon, and more nuts arranged along a wooden tabletop in this horizontal still life painting. The objects nearly fill the composition, and the table extends off both sides. The three oranges are pale, with the one at the center nearly yellow, and a stem of dark green leaves lies across the top. A bunch of shriveled grapes, like raisins still on the vine, lies across the almonds and other nuts, all in their shells, in the bowl. The outside of the bowl is white, and it has a gently scalloped rim. A lemon sits to our left of the bowl of fruit, and behind it, the glass decanter has a teardrop-shaped glass stopper. Light coming from the front and our left makes the peachy liquid glow. To our right are four whole walnuts in their shells, with a few grapes hanging from the bowl. Behind the walnuts, a long stemmed, flaring, clear glass is almost filled with the peach-colored liquid. The background is deeply shadowed at the upper left, lightening slightly to elephant gray toward the lower right. The artist inscribed the painting as if he had written his name, date, and location on the front edge of the table, near the lower right corner: “Raphaelle Peale Aug: 5th 1814 Philad:”
Michelangelo
Closed December 11, 1988
Drawings on Stone
Closed September 4, 1988
The image shows two men in a fighting stance in a side view. Both men are positioned with their fists up, leaning slightly backward. On the left is a shirtless man with dark skin, short hair, and light-colored trousers. On the right is a shirtless man with light skin, dark hair, and striped trousers. A crowd surrounds the fighters, some seated and some standing. The background is a shaded sketch of outdoor terrain under a cloudy sky. An object resembling a jug is next to them.
Masterworks from Munich
Closed September 5, 1988
Paintings by Fitz Hugh Lane
Closed September 5, 1988
The Flag Paintings of Childe Hassam
Closed July 17, 1988

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