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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The John Hay Whitney Collection
Closed November 27, 1983
Trees and mountains nearly fill this composition and are painted with long, mostly parallel brushstrokes in this horizontal landscape. The trees are painted with long dashes of royal and aquamarine blue, pine and mint green to suggest leaves on coral-red trunks. The grass below is lemon-lime yellow, and a walking path is picked out with lavender-purple strokes. The mountains beyond the trees are painted with flat areas of coral, apricot orange, and cobalt blue. The sky above is pale turquoise with a few swirling, cream-colored clouds.
Paintings in Naples from Caravaggio to Giordano
Closed May 1, 1983
A nearly nude, pale-skinned woman rides an oversized seashell being pulled by stylized dolphins in this horizontal painting. Four muscular, tanned men with dark, unruly curly hair surround the shell and play music. The woman sits on a seat made by twisting red coral with her body angled to our right. She turns her face up and to our left, to the sky. She has dark eyes and brows, a heart-shaped face, a cleft in her chin, and her pink lips are parted. Her auburn-brown hair appears gathered at the base of her neck and long tresses lift in the breeze over her right shoulder, to our left. A teardrop-shaped pearl hangs from the ear we can see. A celestial-blue cloth and a translucent white veil wraps over one shoulder and flutters behind her. The cloth then drapes across her back and over her thighs, exposing her soft tummy and rounded hips. The fish-like dolphins pulling the shell have rounded heads and black, glassy eyes. Short fins run the length of their curved backs over dark, olive-green skin. The woman guides them using red, twisted cords looped through their mouths. A pair of musicians are to each side of the shell. To our left and in the lower corner, one man holds a flute to his lips. The outer corners of his eyebrows arch up under a lined forehead. A ring of broad leaves wraps around his waist. Another man behind him blows with cheeks puffed into a shell as he looks at us. In the pair to our right, on the far side of the shell, one man holds a stick, perhaps guiding the vessel, while another, at the front of the grouping, blows into a shell. The man at front wears rings of leaves around his head and waist. The scene is lit starkly from our left, illuminating the woman and casting the rest into shadow. The water around the group is dark, pine green. Rocky mountains dotted with trees and buildings rise in the distance. Ash-gray clouds create diagonal bands moving up and to our right against a muted blue sky.
Photographs by Alfred Stieglitz
Closed May 8, 1983
Drawings from the Holy Roman Empire 1540-1680
Closed April 10, 1983
This is a drawing of a scene with several figures in dramatic postures. The drawing features a group of figures that appear to be engaged in an intense interaction. One figure is shown leaning forward with a hand raised to their face. Others are depicted standing nearby, dressed in flowing garments and positioned in dynamic poses. The lines are fluid and expressive, giving a sense of movement to the scene. The overall tone is sepia, created with ink and wash.
Important Information Inside
Closed June 19, 1983
This painting depicts a dark brown teapot and a fish on a white cloth. The fish is mostly greenish gray, with some white and pale red scales. It appears to be propped up on something, perhaps a plate or another fish, and its head is facing the right. The teapot is on the left, with its spout turned towards us. The background is textured beige, and the white cloth below the objects has some small folds in it.
Raphael and America
Closed May 8, 1983
A woman and two children, all with pale skin and flushed cheeks, sit together in a landscape in this round painting. The woman takes up most of the composition as she sits with her right leg, to our left, tucked under her body. Her other leg, on our right, is bent so the foot rests on the ground, and that knee angles up and out to the side. She wears a rose-pink dress under a topaz-blue robe, and a finger between the pages of a closed book holds her place. Her brown hair is twisted away from her face. She has delicate features and her pink lips are closed. She looks and leans to our left around a nude young boy who half-sits and half-stands against her bent leg. The boy has blond hair and pudgy, toddler-like cheeks and body. The boy reaches his right hand, on our left, to grasp the tall, thin cross held by the second young boy, who sits on the ground next to the pair. This second boy has darker brown hair and wears a garment resembling animal fur. The boy kneels facing the woman and looks up at her and the blond boy. The trio sits on a flat, grassy area in front of a body of water painted light turquoise. Mountains in the deep distance are pale azure blue beneath a nearly clear blue sky.
Gallery of the Louvre by Samuel F.B. Morse
Closed February 13, 1983
Manet and Modern Paris
Closed March 6, 1983
A densely packed crowd of men and women, all of them with pale skin and most of them wearing black, stand in a theater lobby beneath a mezzanine level that runs close to the top edge of the composition in this horizontal painting. Because the crowd spans the width of the composition, the first impression is of a mass of deep black stretching across the canvas. Slowly, individual faces and poses become evident. Five of the women wear black, oval masks that cover their eyes and noses, and one more mask has fallen onto the rust-red floor below. Two women, wearing bright white and colorful clothing, engage some of the men in conversation. A man cropped by the left edge of the painting wears the green, red, and gold costume and pointed cap of a court jester. Two gold and glass wall sconces hang on the cream-colored wall behind the crowd, one near each top corner. The space within the mezzanine level above is painted loosely so details are difficult to make out, but a pair of legs clad in black britches and white stockings seems to stand with ankles crossed at the top center. A leg wearing a red, high-heeled ankle boot dangles outside of the railing to the right. The brushstrokes are loose throughout. The artist’s signature appears on a piece of discarded paper on the floor near the lower right corner: “Manet.”
David Smith
Closed April 24, 1983
Made with sheets of painted steel, an orange ring stands upright on a narrow white base in this freestanding sculpture. A black strip and a gray strip are affixed to the edges of the ring. The black strip is horizontal across the top of the circle, attached to the back side of the ring, and the narrower but longer gray strip is angled across the top right quarter of the circle. The sculpture is photographed near a wall clad with pale pinkish-gray marble and a similarly colored floor.
Braque
Closed January 16, 1983
Two pieces of black paper and a third sheet with imitation wood grain paper are layered over a drawing of a guitar and other sheets of paper in this vertical collage. The guitar’s curved body and the lower part of the strings are drawn in black on tan paper, while the sound hole and rest of the strings are drawn with white lines on a rectangular piece of black paper that lies on top. Straight and angled lines protrude from the sides and top of the guitar with light hatching to suggest shading. A sheet of paper is drawn over the bottom of the guitar with hand lettering that reads, “Aria de Bach.” Another black rectangle overlaps the paper on the left and has a long, white, vertical line broken by a C-shape. The paper patterned with wood grain lies on top of the black paper and resembles a long triangle with its point cut off. The artist signed the lower right, “G Braque.”
Claude Lorrain (1600-1682)
Closed January 2, 1983
Visions of City and Country
Closed December 5, 1982
The image shows a landscape scene with a path leading through dense foliage. The horizon is obscured, creating depth. The foliage is etched with intricate details, suggesting trees. The path is lined with sketch-like brushstrokes. The color palette is monochromatic in dark gray and off-white tones. Two figures and a horse are subtly included, blending into the landscape. The scene appears complex with movement and shadows.

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