Articles

Interactive Article:  The Marvelous Details of Joris Hoefnagel’s Animal and Insect Studies

Scroll to discover tiny brushstrokes, hidden meanings, and the immense impact on our understanding of the natural world.

Article:  Seven Highlights from the Index of American Design

Peer into the American past with a collection of Great Depression–era watercolors.

Elizabeth Catlett in her studio, 1942

Article:  Who Is Elizabeth Catlett? 12 Things to Know

Meet a groundbreaking artist who made sculptures and prints for her people.

Article:  From Old Car Tires, Chakaia Booker Reveals Beauty and Devastation

Transforming discarded tires into monumental sculptures, the artist reflects on the environmental impact of our daily commutes.

Six women, eight men, two satyrs, and one child gather in pairs and trios in a loose row that spans the width of this nearly square painting. They are set within a landscape with craggy rocks, cliffs, and trees. Most of the people face us, and the men, women, and child have pale skin. The two satyrs have men’s torsos and furry goat’s legs, and they have darker, olive complexions. Most of the men wear voluminous, knee-length togas wrapped in short robes in shades of white, topaz blue, grass green, coral orange, or rose pink. Most of the women wear long, dress-like garments in tones of shell pink, apricot orange, or lapis blue over white sleeves. For all but one woman, their garments have fallen off one shoulder to reveal a round, firm breast. Several objects are strewn on the rocky, dirt ground in front of the group, including a wide, wooden bucket with a piece of paper affixed to its front to our right, a glass goblet, a pitchfork, a large blue and white ceramic dish filled with grapes and small yellow fruits, and an overturned cup near the center. Cliff-like, craggy rocks rise steeply behind the group to our left, filling much of the sky opposite a tall grove of leafy, dark green trees to our right. A few puffy white clouds float across the vivid blue sky. The slip of paper on the barrel has been inscribed, “joannes bellinus venetus p MDXIIII.”

Interactive Article:  Layers of Power in "The Feast of the Gods"

At first glance, this painting looks like a great party. But it’s more complicated than that. 

A group of three men, two children, and one woman gather in an empty, dusky rose-pink landscape under a blue, cloudy sky in this nearly square painting. Most of the people have muted, peachy skin, and the woman and the youngest boy have cream-white skin. The woman sits on the ground to our right, apart from the rest of the men and children. She wears a coral-red skirt, a beige shawl, and straw hat, and she looks into the distance to our right. The others stand in a loose semi-circle on the left half of the composition. A man wearing a multicolored, diamond-patterned costume stands with his back to us to the left. He looks to our right in profile and holds the hand of a little girl who also stands with her back to us. She wears a pink dress and white stockings, and her right hand rests on the tall handle of a white basket. A portly man wearing a scarlet-red jester’s costume and pointed hat stands opposite this pair, facing us to our right. Next to him to our right a young man wears a tan-colored leotard with a black bottom. He holds a barrel over his right shoulder and looks over to our right. The sixth person is the youngest boy, who wears a baggy blue and red outfit, and he looks toward the woman. The eyes of all the figures are deeply shadowed.

Interactive Article:  Isolation in Pablo Picasso’s "Family of Saltimbanques"

The painting shows us the ambiguity and loneliness of life on the outskirts of society. 

Two angular, cream-white buildings flanking a central, stylized tree are surrounded by brown soil, small animals, and farmhouse objects like watering cans and buckets beneath a clear, azure-blue sky in this square landscape painting. We look straight onto the buildings and slightly down onto the earth in front of us. About a third of the way up the composition, the horizon is lined with trees and mountains in the deep distance. The long, spindly branches of the central tree nearly reach the top edge of the painting and abstracted, sickle-shaped leaves are silhouetted against the sky so no leaves overlap. The far edge of the whitewashed structure to our left is cropped. The façade is pierced by two small rectangular windows and an arched hatch at the top under a winch. The back end of a horse is visible through an open door at the bottom center. Horizontal bands in front of the building suggest furrows in plowed earth, and a single stalk of corn grows up into the scene, seeming close to us. A pen protected by netting stretches out in front of the second structure, to our right of center. That wood-frame building has a triangular peaked roof, and the left half is open, like a lean-to. A goat, rooster, birds, and several rabbits occupy the pen. Watering cans, buckets and pails, a hoe, newspaper, lizard, and snail are spaced around the buildings. A tiny stylized person, perhaps a baby, appears in the distance between the buildings near a well where a woman works. A covered wagon, a round mill, trees, and plants fill the rest of the space between the buildings. A disk-like moon hangs in the sky to the right of the tree. The artist signed and dated the lower left corner, "Miro. 1921-22."

Interactive Article:  Art Comes to Life in Joan Miró’s "The Farm"

Joan Miró’s complex and captivating painting is full of life and mystery. 

Shown from about the waist up, a woman with smooth, pale skin sits in a chair facing our right in front of a canvas on an easel in this vertical portrait. She leans onto her right elbow, which rests on the seat back. She turns her face to look at us, lips slightly parted. Her dress has a black bodice and a deep rose-pink skirt and sleeves. She wears a translucent white cap over her hair, which has been tightly pulled back. A stiff, white, plate-like ruff encircles her neck and reaches to her shoulders. She holds a paintbrush in her right hand and clutches about twenty brushes, a wooden paint palette, and a rag in her left hand, at the bottom right of the canvas. The painting behind her shows a man wearing robin's egg-blue and playing a violin.

Interactive Article:  Art up Close: Judith Leyster, the Leading Star of Her Time

Her paintings were passed off as the works of her male contemporaries. Get to know 17th century painter Judith Leyster through the hidden details of her lively self-portrait.

A man with pale peach skin and dark hair wears a military uniform and stands in front of a desk in this vertical portrait painting. He nearly fills the composition so seems close to us, and he looks directly at us. His body is angled slightly to our left and he tucks his right hand, on our left, flat against his chest between the buttons of his jacket. His navy-blue waistcoat is white along the front where it is fastened with brass buttons along his chest. The jacket has red cuffs, gold epaulets on the shoulders, and three medals affixed to the chest. White britches end just below the knee, and white stockings covering his calves are wrinkled at the ankle above black shoes with brass buckles. A candle burns low in a lamp on an ornately carved and gilded desk behind the man. Books and papers are piled on the desk to our right. More papers and a thin sword rest on a chair in front of the desk to our right. The chair is also carved and gilded, and is upholstered with scarlet-red fabric decorated with gold bees. The legs of the chair push back the forest-green carpet underfoot. A tall clock stands on the wall opposite us and reads 4:13. A few capital letters are written on a scroll of paper on the chair, “COD.” The artist’s name is also written as if printed on a scroll of paper on the floor behind the desk to our left: “LVD.CI.DAVID OPVS 1812.”

Interactive Article:  Art up Close: Jacques-Louis David’s Mythical Napoleon

A magnified look at the details in the imagined portrait of the legendary French emperor.

A woman and winged angel, both with pale, peach skin, are situated in a church interior in this tall, narrow painting. To our left, the angel has long, blond, curly hair, smooth skin, and is smiling. The wings are outlined in royal blue, and they blend from blue to green to yellow to crimson. The angel holds one hand, closer to us, up at chest height with the index finger subtly pointing upward. Holding a long scepter in the other hand, the angel angles their body toward the woman to our right. The angel wears a gold jewel and pearl-encrusted crown and a jeweled long, voluminous robe in scarlet-red and shimmering gold brocade. The neck and along the opening down the front are lined with pearls and jewels. The angel looks toward the woman, who wears a royal-blue dress tied with a red belt at the high waist. Her long brown hair is tied back but one tendril falls over her left shoulder, to our right. She kneels facing us with her raised hands facing outward. Her head is tipped a bit to our left, and she looks up and into the distance to our right with lips slightly parted. She kneels behind a book lying open on a low table. A vase of white lilies and a red cushion lies on the floor in front of the table, close to us. The floor is decorated with people and scenes outlined in black and set into square panels, as if inlaid with wood. The church behind and above the people has a row of tall, narrow arches with bull’s-eye glass windows. A walkway lined with columns runs above the arches, and sunlight comes in through arched windows under the flat wood ceiling. A white dove flies toward the woman on gold lines from a window at the upper left of the painting. Latin words painted in gold capital letters are exchanged between the people. The angel says, “AVE GRA PLENA.” The letters of the woman’s response are painted upside down and backward: “ECCE ANCILLA DNI.”

Interactive Article:  Stories and Symbols in Jan van Eyck’s "The Annunciation"

The work is a triumph of early Northern Renaissance painting—and storytelling.

Dozens of people line up around a shed-like structure and around stone ruins to kneel before a woman and baby at the lower center of this circular painting. All the people have pale skin. The crowd gathers along a pathway that winds around a rocky mountain at the top middle of the composition. Most of the people are on foot but a few ride horses or camels. The line of people curves around and through an arched opening in a stone ruin to our left. Sitting at the center of the painting, behind the woman and baby, Mary and Jesus, the structure is open at the front and has a triangular pitched roof. Some of the people, including the three closest to Mary and Jesus, wear elegant, gold-trimmed clothing. Others wear simple tunics, and several people standing along the ruins in the middle distance wear only white loincloths. Ages of the people range from young and cleanshaven to older and bearded. Their costumes are mostly pale yellow, coral orange, crimson red, shell pink, or sky blue. Some people raise their heads and hands while others hold hands to their chests and close their eyes. Mary wears a pale blue robe over a blush-pink dress. Jesus is nude and an older man standing nearby wears an apricot-colored robe over a blue tunic. The older man, Mary, and Jesus have gold halos. A peacock and two other birds stand on the roof of the manger, which shelters an ox, ass, and horses.

Interactive Article:  Art up Close: Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi’s Spectacular “The Adoration of the Magi”

See the marvelous and mystifying details of the 15th-century painting, believed to have been made for the Medici family.

We look slightly down onto a scene showing light-skinned men, women, and children ice skating on a frozen river in this horizontal landscape painting. We get the impression of hundreds of people gathered on the ice creating a crowd that extends into the hazy distance. The couple dozen closest to us are the most defined. A few clusters of people and individuals in particular draw our attention. For example, a group of three men wearing dark cloaks and hats stand in conversation on our right. Two boys nearby hold sticks and play a game similar to hockey. A small child holds two smaller sticks, perhaps to help balance. A man in the front center wears puffy scarlet-red pants with white stockings, a red jacket, and a tall brown hat with a cloud of scarlet feathers. He stands next to a woman wearing a black hooded cloak over a black skirt and raspberry-pink bodice. She tucks her hands into a cylindrical muffler held at her waist. Another elegantly dressed man in golden yellows and black and a woman in mauve pink and butter yellow stand nearby. Some of people throughout the scene wear white frilly collars and others are more simply dressed in shades of brown, gray, and black. To our right, a faded rose-red windmill stands at the river’s edge, and to our left a large house with steeply pitched and stepped roofs is enclosed within a solid fence painted with pink diamonds against black and white. Smoke rises from one chimney, and other houses and a church line the riverbank into the distance. A wooden bridge near a grove of bare trees connects spit of land near us in the lower left corner with the village beyond. Brilliant azure-blue sky is visible through breaks in the steel-gray clouds above.

Article:  Discover Winter Wonders in this Holiday Scavenger Hunt

Make seasonal memories in our galleries by searching for winter wonders with your friends and family.

Article:  Artists Who Expand Views of the Southwest

You may know Georgia O’Keeffe, but have you heard of Tonita Peña? Learn about the many artists inspired by the Southwest.

A black and white photograph shows a man with greyish hair standing against a wall of stacked cubes of wood in different shades. He is shown from the waist up. He is turned to the right and looks to the left. He rests his left hand on his waist, with his elbow bent. He has a serious expression.

Article:  George Morrison Gets His Due

The Minnesota painter merged abstract expressionism with traditional Ojibwe values. 

Wendy MacNaughton's watercolor and ink illustration of Kerry James Marshall

Article:  Exquisite Corpse with Kerry James Marshall (and friends!)

The history painter takes inspiration from an old surrealist game — and so can we, as an opportunity for connection.

Wendy MacNaughton's pen and ink illustration of artist Romare Bearden

Article:  Drawing with Scissors with Romare Bearden

Wendy MacNaughton takes us on a journey to meet the legendary Harlem artist known for his collages — and reflect on our own homes and families.

Wendy MacNaughton's ink and watercolor illustration of artists Jeanne-Claude and Christo

Article:  Dream Big with Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Go on a MONUMENTAL drawing adventure inspired by the Running Fence artists, the first in our series hosted by Wendy MacNaughton.

Article:  12 Documentary Photographers Who Changed the Way We See the World

Photographers of the 1970s revolutionized the medium through innovations of both style and subject.

A woman is shown from behind in a white dress with a black sweater hanging over her shoulders. She stands looking towards two abstract paintings hanging on a white wall. A two piece vibrant yellow painting hangs to the left. On the right is a painting with two triangles of kelly green one of which is inverted so they meet in the middle of the canvas. The remaining left and right of the canvas is a solid white.

Article:  Your Tour of Latinx Artists at the National Gallery

Use our guide to explore works by Latinx artists on view in our galleries.

A woman with white grey hair and black glasses stands with her hands clasped at her waist. She is shown from the waist up. Behind her is a bright green wall, with a black and white photograph of a woman to the left. On her right is a metal table of various scientific tools and other small objects.

Article:  The Collective Memory of Amalia Mesa-Bains

Through her evocative installations, the pioneering Chicana artist seeks to connect the past with the present.

Article:  1874: The Birth of Impressionism

Discover how a landmark exhibition led to the birth of an influential movement.

Article:  10 Haitian Artists to Know

Meet the country’s leading painters who developed their own style of modern art.

Article:  What Is Impressionism? 4 Things to Know

Learn the hallmarks of one of the most recognizable art movements in the world.

Article:  Art that Represents, and Misrepresents, the US-Mexico Border

How contemporary artists working in El Paso and Juárez counter mainstream narratives of the region.

Article:  Emmi Whitehorse Paints the Harmonies of Her Homelands

How the Diné artist's serene paintings "tell the story of knowing land over time."

Article:  Mark Klett's Rephotography of the American West

How the photographer’s journey tracking down views from 19th century photographs altered the writer’s understanding of space and time.

Article:  Sentinels and Sprawl: Photographs of the Saguaro Cactus

As the presence of humans changes the Sonoran Desert, photographers capture the impact on the saguaro cactus.

A middle-aged, light-skinned man stands facing and looking at us, leaning on one arm propped on a tall rock in a landscape in this vertical portrait painting. The man looks out with dark blue eyes under curved black brows. He has a prominent nose, his full apricot-colored lips are closed, and there is a shadow of a beard on his smooth cheeks. He has a receding hairline, and his wavy, ash-gray hair curls around his high, white collar. The man wears a tawny-brown topcoat with white, ruffled cuffs at his wrists, and a long brown vest with fabric-covered buttons. He wears matching brown, knee-length pantaloons with white stockings, and black shoes with gold buckles. His feet are widely planted as he leans on the tall rock on his left elbow, to our right. His elbow rests on an open book on the tall, narrow rock, shaped like a podium. Writing visible in the thick book reads, “Nolumus Leges Angliae mutari.” He points with his other index finger to our right. Behind the man and to our right is a gray, stone statue of a woman wearing flowing robes. She holds a pair of scales in one hand a tall staff with a bell-like form at the top in the other elbow. The statue is angled toward the man, and the tall base on which she stands is carved with the words, “Co LEX ANGLI.” A tree with sickle-shaped leaves and peach-colored fruit spans the height of the composition behind the statue. Near the lower left corner of the composition, two halves of a piece of paper, torn from corner to corner, lies on the ground with the edges curling up. The writing on the paper reads, “Imperial Civil Law — Sumary proceeding.” A thick tree trunk curves in a shallow S shape up along the left edge of the canvas, behind the man. Fern-green jimson weed, clover, small flowers, and rocks carpet the ground beneath and around the man. In the distance, to our left, a man wearing a red coat, a tricorn hat, and holding a musket leads a mule carrying a pack, while sheep graze to our right. Pockets of azure-blue sky are visible beyond gray clouds to our left and fluffy, flaxen-yellow clouds to our right.

Interactive Article:  Art up Close: John Beale Bordley’s Revolutionary Portrait

The origins of the Revolutionary War can be found in the details of Charles Willson Peale’s early American portrait.

Article:  A Portrait of Gay and Lesbian America 30 Years On

Photographer Nancy Andrews reflects on her project searching for, and bringing visibility to, her community.

Article:  Six Abolitionists in Photographs

See the portraits of antislavery activists, including Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth.

Article:  Your Tour of LGBTQ+ Artists at the National Gallery

See these 10 works by queer artists during your next visit.

Interactive Article:  Art up Close: Starting from Clay, David Drake’s Storage Jar

A close look at the unseen labor that went in to David Drake’s stoneware pottery and inscribed poetry.

Article:  Centering Asian Artists in the American Story

Asian Americans are often left out of view of US history. But their lives—and their art—are an essential part of the nation’s story.

Article:  Called Back: On George Morrison, Land Acknowledgement, and Returning Home

In her tribute to the late George Morrison, Ojibwe artist Andrea Carlson asks, how can Indigenous artists be called back to the land?

Article:  Iowa Artists Craft Complex Visions of the Rural

How artists based in Iowa, from the early 20th century to today, have crafted their own visions of the region.

Article:  Modernist Barns and Modern Farmers

How Grant Wood, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Thomas Hart Benton depicted the humble structures—and how they mask the struggles of farmers today.

Article:  Potter Richard Bresnahan Navigates an “Eco-mutual” Future

The Minnesota artist's humanist, ecological pottery contains operating instructions for our shared survival.

Article:  Picturing the Eclipse

Experience the drama of the eclipse and other views of the cosmos through images in our collection.

Article:  The Quiet Revolutions of Boston's Women Artists

The women who fought to become artists in the 19th century, only to have their contributions forgotten for nearly a century.

Article:  A Fashionable Spin on Spring in Art

Social media influencer Holly Pan's fashion-forward visit to National Gallery spaces that remind her of spring.

Article:  7 Ways to Celebrate Spring at the National Gallery

Usher in the new season with floral displays, art making, films, and more. Here’s our guide to the top spring activities.

Article:  Who is Anni Albers? 8 Things to Know

Meet the daring artist whose weavings and prints changed the way we see textiles.

Shown from the knees up, a woman stands facing and looking at us with her head tilted a little to our left in this vertical portrait painting. She has pale skin, a heart-shaped face with rosy cheeks, and a rose-pink bow mouth. Thin, arched, sable-brown eyebrows frame her gray eyes. A wreath of pale pink flowers and curling white ostrich feathers crowns her long gray hair, which is piled high on her head. Loose curly tendrils brush both shoulders. Her glowing, silver satin gown is trimmed with delicate sheer lace around the wide, plunging neckline and sleeves, and has a pink sash around her narrow waist. Pearl bracelets adorn her wrists. She leans to her left, our right, to rest her left elbow against a waist-high, cinnamon-brown stone pedestal, which is decorated with a bronze-colored garland and bow on the side facing us. A ring of blue, yellow, red, and pink flowers, woven with strands of ivy, dangles in the hand resting on the pedestal. Her right hand hangs loosely by her side. Along the left edge of the dimly lit background, a tree with a thick trunk angles into the upper left corner. A smaller sapling grows just in front of it. On the right, bushes with olive and fern-green leaves dotted with lilac-purple flecks rise above the pedestal. Dark clouds fill most of the top third of the canvas but they part around her head to reveal the soft blue sky. The artist signed and dated the work in white in the lower right corner, “L. Vigée Le Brun 1782.”

Article:  Your Tour of Women Artists at the National Gallery

See these 10 works by trailblazing women artists during your next visit.

Article:  10 Contemporary Women Artists to Know

See their paintings, sculptures, installations, and more—all new additions to our collection.

Article:  Looking Mindfully at Georgia O'Keeffe's "Winter Road I"

Immerse yourself in the vastness of O’Keeffe’s minimal painting.

Article:  What is German Expressionism? 8 Things to Know

This early 20th century art movement sought to convey the intensity of modern life.

Article:  Out of the Shadows, A Black Painter Finds Her Place in the Sun

American painter Lois Mailou Jones had to conceal her identity to exhibit this idyllic landscape — and achieved recognition on her own terms.

This square portrait shows the head and shoulders of a young woman in front of a spiky bush that fills much of the background except for a landscape view that extends into the deep distance to our right. The woman's body is angled to our right but her face turns to us. She has chalk-white, smooth skin with heavily lidded, light brown eyes, and her pale pink lips are closed. Pale blush highlights her cheeks, and she looks either at us or very slightly away from our eyes. Her brown hair is parted down the middle and pulled back, but tight, lively curls frame her face. Her hair turns gold where the light shines on it. She wears a brown dress, trimmed along the square neckline with gold. The front of the bodice is tied with a blue ribbon, and the lacing holes are also edged with gold. A sheer white veil covers her chest and is pinned at the center with a small gold ball. The bush fills the space around her head with copper-brown, spiky leaves. A river winds between trees and rolling hills in the distance to our right. Trees and a town along the horizon, which comes about halfway up the painting, is pale blue under an ice-blue sky.

Article:  10 Surprising Facts About Leonardo da Vinci’s “Ginevra de’ Benci”

Did you know he made it before the “Mona Lisa?” And that he finger painted? Uncover more unexpected details about the only painting by the artist in the Americas.

Article:  Your Tour of Black Artists at the National Gallery

These 10 works by Black artists are on view in our galleries, so you can see them during your next visit.

Article:  16 Black Artists to Know

Are you a fan of Glenn Ligon, Alma Thomas, or Gordon Parks? We’ve paired eight Black artists you might know with eight others to discover.

Article:  Who Is Charles Ethan Porter? 7 Things to Know

Porter was the first known professional Black artist to specialize in still lifes, and his paintings were admired by the likes of writer Mark Twain and painter Frederic Edwin Church.

Article:  5 Ways to Be More Creative This Year

Get inspiring and practical tips for your most creative year yet.

Article:  Gilbert Stuart’s Skating Sensation

With "The Skater," Stuart blazed a new path in British portraiture. Its details tell the story of skating in 18th-century Britain.

Article:  Lindsay Adams’s Intimate Paintings Explore Place, the Self, and Memory

In her figurative and floral canvases, the Chicago-based painter explores her intersections.

Article:  William Shakespeare’s Plays in Art

See how six artists envisioned the Bard’s plays, from “Romeo and Juliet” to “King Lear.”

Article:  How to Recharge at the National Gallery this Holiday Season

Not a fan of crowds? Tired of the holiday hustle? Our Visitor Experience team shared their tips for a restful and refreshing visit to the museum.

Article:  Rediscovering George Inness’s “The Lackawanna Valley”

How an American painting showing the impact of industry on the land resonates with young visitors today.

Article:  Seeing the National Gallery through the Eyes of a Child

Six year-old Addy and her dad Austin Graff have tips for enjoying the National Gallery as you grow.

Article:  Anne Vallayer-Coster Painting, Missing for Centuries, Now at the National Gallery

The 18th-century French still life painter considered it one of her best paintings.

Article:  Outside the Frame: How Dorothea Lange Created Her Iconic Photographs

Learn about the documentary photographer’s techniques by tracing the process of creating some of her compelling images.

Article:  The Real Lives of People in Dorothea Lange's Portraits

Four everyday Americans were the subject of her famous photographs. Discover the heartbreak and suffering they faced at crucial points in American history.

Article:  How Mark Rothko Made Paintings on Paper

Mark Rothko made more than 1,000 paintings on paper. Get an inside look at his methods and materials.

Article:  Who Is Dorothea Lange? 6 Things to Know

Learn how the documentary photographer got her start and why she dedicated her life to the medium.

Article:  Delicious, Daring, and Deadly Materials in Art

Trick or treat? Discover artists' materials that range from spooky to delicious.

We look out onto a sweeping, panoramic view with trees, their leaves fiery orange and red, framing a view of a distant body of water under a sun-streaked sky in this long, horizontal landscape painting. The horizon comes about halfway up the composition, and is lined with hazy mountains and clouds in the deep distance. Close examination slowly reveals minuscule birds tucked into the crimson-red, golden yellow, and deep, sage-green leaves of the trees to either side of the painting. Closest to us, vine-covered, fallen tree trunks and mossy gray boulders line the bottom edge of the canvas. Beyond a trickling waterfall and small pool near the lower left corner, and tiny within the scale of the landscape, a group of three men and their dogs sit and recline around a blanket and a picnic basket, their rifles leaning against a tree nearby. The land sweeps down to a grassy meadow crossed by a meandering stream that winds into the distance, at the center of the painting. Touches of white and gray represent a flock of grazing sheep in the meadow. A low wooden bridge spans the stream to our right, and a few cows drink from the riverbank. Smoke rises from chimneys in a town lining the riverbank and shoreline beyond, and tiny white sails and steamboats dot the waterway. Light pours onto the scene with rays like a starburst from behind a lavender-gray cloud covering the sun, low in the sky. The artist signed the painting as if he had inscribed the flat top of a rock at the lower center of the landscape with his name, the title of the painting, and date: “Autumn – on the Hudson River, J.F Cropsey, London 1860.”

Article:  Celebrate Fall Foliage with Autumn Art at the National Gallery

Explore our bounty of fall images.

Article:  Bianca Nemelc Paints the Spiritual Bonds Between Womanhood and Nature

The New York–based Latina artist finds deep connections between rest, nature, and womanhood in her vibrant paintings.

Article:  Artists Who Inspired Mark Rothko

Learn about some of the artists the modern painter was in dialogue with throughout his career.

A man with pale white skin sits and a man with light brown skin stands in front of a cave-like, rocky outcropping in this vertical portrait painting. The light-skinned man closer to us has dark brown hair, and the light falls more strongly on him. He sits propped on or against a rock with his body angled to our left, and he looks off into the distance in that direction. He wears a scarlet-red overcoat, a white waistcoat, and moccasins. What appears to be an animal skin painted on the underside with red, tan, and black geometric patterns is tied around his chest and falls over his left arm, on our right. With that hand, he holds a musket like a walking stick. He also holds a black cap ornamented with beads and feathers on his other knee. The man with brown skin stands in shadow behind the other man, to our left. His body faces us, and he looks at the seated man. A dark cloak encircles his shoulders and is gathered around his waist. A strap crosses his bare chest and the strap, bracelets, and a feathered headdress seem to be beaded. Large gold rings curve from his earlobes up over his ears. A puff of smoke emerges from the top of the long, painted stick he holds, suggesting it is a pipe. He holds his left hand, on our right, at his chest, and points subtly to our left, perhaps to the landscape seen through a break in the rocky outcropping. There, in front of a waterfall in the distance, a small group of people with light brown skin gather around a camp fire in front of a tent-like structure.

Interactive Article:  Art up Close: Bringing Mohawk Chief Karonghyontye out of Benjamin West’s Shadow

Exploring the details of this 18th-century painting, learn the story of Native Americans’ participation in the American Revolution and their long-standing fights for land rights.

Article:  Who Is Mark Rothko? 9 Things to Know

Brush up on key and unexpected details about the modern artist, best known for his colorful abstract paintings.

Article:  A Colorful Day at the National Gallery with “Diego Downtown”

The social media influencer shares his tips for a perfect (and romantic) day exploring the museum.

Article:  Freddy Rodríguez’s Quest to Express Dominican History in Art

Over 50 years and across many styles and mediums, the artist probed his roots.

Article:  Poet Jorie Graham Responds to a Painting by Edouard Vuillard

The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet is inspired by the French painter’s work made “in the lull before history dissolves.”

Article:  Who Is Marisol? 7 Things to Know

The Venezuelan American artist was wildly famous in the 1960s and ’70s for sculptures that have many sources, but defy categories.

Article:  Miguel Luciano’s Portrait of a Puerto Rico in Crisis

The artist confronts us with the contemporary Puerto Rican experience.

Article:  Poet Ilya Kaminsky Responds to a Sculpture by Alberto Giacometti

The author of "Deaf Republic" imagines a convening with the "long-legged statue."

Article:  9 Latinx Artists You May Not Have Heard Of

Learn about the lives and works of artists of Latin American descent working in the United States from the 1930s to today.

Article:  Poet Victoria Chang Responds to a Sculpture by Anne Truitt

The poet responds to a sculpture by Anne Truitt and asks the questions “Who gets to speak, who gets to brush.”

Article:  Rare Early Photographs of African American Life

A large collection of personal photographs offers a glimpse of Black entrepreneurship and self-expression in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Article:  Poet Heid E. Erdrich Responds to a Portrait by Amedeo Modigliani

The educator, curator, interdisciplinary artist, and guest curator at the Mead Art Museum of Amherst College responds to Modigliani's "Roma Woman with Baby"

Article:  Poet Hanif Abdurraqib Responds to a Painting by Mwangi Hutter

The Ohio-based poet's creation is a rumination on soulmates, solitude, and spirits.

Article:  Poet Teri Ellen Cross Davis Responds to a Sculpture by Alexander Calder

The poetry coordinator of the Folger Shakespeare Library reacts to the American artist's kinetic "spider."

Article:  Poet Naomi Shihab Nye Responds to a Painting by Max Beckmann

The Palestinian-American poet is inspired by "Falling Man" by Max Beckmann, her mother’s teacher.

Article:  Poet Jason Reynolds Responds to a Photograph by Gordon Parks

The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature imagines the experience of Ella Watson, the subject of Gordon Parks's iconic image.

Article:  Poet Ada Limón Responds to a Work by Andy Goldsworthy

The U.S. Poet Laureate responds to a circular set of sculptures by Andy Goldsworthy.

Article:  What Did We Eat Before Colonization? A Native Chef and Artist Connect Over Plant Knowledge

Chef and Native American food historian Loretta Barett Oden reflects on her friendship with artist G. Peter Jemison.

Article:  Edgar Degas Only Made One “Little Dancer.” And It’s Ours.

How our conservators have cared for the fragile wax sculpture, preserving it decades longer than anyone thought possible.

Article:  Edgar Degas's Experiments in Pastel and Watercolor

A conservator examines how the impressionist made a curious drawing.

Article:  Who Is Sir Edwin Landseer? 10 Things to Know

A look at the prodigy who became so famous for his paintings of animals that a dog breed was named after him.

Article:  The 19th-Century Blockbuster: Frederic Edwin Church’s “Niagara”

The American artist, skilled at both painting and publicity, created a sensation similar to the social media–famous exhibitions of today.

Article:  The Deadly Business of the Dutch Quest for Salt

The salt we see in 17th-century still lifes was central to the Dutch economy—and Dutch colonialism.

We look onto the side of a rowboat crowded with nine men trying to save a pale, nude young man who flails in the water in front of us as a shark approaches, mouth agape, from our right in this horizontal painting. In the water, the man floats with his chest facing the sky, his right arm overhead and the other stretched out by his side. Extending to our left, his left leg is bent and the right leg is straight, disappearing below the knee. His long blond hair swirls in the water and he arches his back, his wide-open eyes looking toward the shark behind him. To our right, the shark rolls up out of the water with its gaping jaws showing rows of pointed teeth. In the boat, eight of the men have light or tanned complexions, and one man has dark brown skin. The man with brown skin stands at the back center of the boat, and he holds one end of a rope, which falls across the boat and around the upper arm of the man in the water. Another man stands at the stern of the boat, to our right, poised with a long, hooked harpoon over the side of the boat, ready to strike the shark. His long dark hair blows back and he wears a navy-blue jacket with brass buttons, white breeches, blue stockings, and his shoes have silver buckles. Two other men wearing white shirts with blousy sleeves lean over the side of the boat, bracing each other as they reach toward the man in the water. An older, balding man holds the shirt and body of one of this pair and looks on, his mouth open. The other men hold long oars and look into the water with furrowed brows. The tip of a shark’s tail slices through the water to our right of the boat, near the right edge of the canvas. Along the horizon line, which comes three-quarters of the way up the composition, buildings and tall spires line the harbor. The masts of boats at port creates a row of crosses against the light blue sky. Steely gray clouds sweep across the upper left corner of the canvas and the sky lightens to pale, butter yellow at the horizon.

Article:  Centering the Black Sailor in Copley’s "Watson and the Shark"

This sailor was one of the first Black figures at the center of a history painting. What can a close look tell us about Black life during colonial times?

Article:  Simone Leigh: Acts of Transformation

Steven Nelson considers how artist Simone Leigh has created a body of work unapologetically for Black women.

Article:  Ten Artworks to Understand Early United States History

From the Native peoples lobbying to keep their homelands to immigrants facing challenges in their new home, works from our collection help us understand our nation’s beginnings.

Article:  Church Supper: Eating, Drinking, and Building Community

A print by Frank Hartley Anderson reminds chef Adrienne Cheatham of the church meals she grew up with—and of a recipe for buttered rolls.

Article:  Summer in Art: Dive into Scenes of the Season

Artists from Mary Cassatt to Roy Lichtenstein have spent the warmer months making works about busy beaches, ripe raspberries, fresh flowers, and other signs of the season.

Article:  James Van Der Zee’s Retouched Portraits

To present sitters in the best possible light and perfect his portrait photographs, 20th-century Harlem photographer Van Der Zee even drew jewelry onto his negatives.

Article:  Free Online Art Learning Resources for Students and Teachers

Looking to learn more about art? Explore a selection of activities, lesson plans, and videos for educators and students for kids of all ages, from preschoolers to high schoolers.

Article:  Look to the Light: A Reflection on Aaron Douglas’s “Into Bondage”

On Juneteenth, Aaron Douglas’s “Into Bondage” prompts reflections on the way forward through oppression and anguish.

Article:  David Drake’s Poetic Pottery Was Resistance

We know so much more about Dave than we otherwise would because he signed his vessels, and also inscribed them with poems, during a period of harsh anti-literacy laws.

Article:  Mindful Drawing: Activities that Embrace Experimentation

Drawing can clear your head and focus your attention on the here and now. Draw with us—no experience required.