Articles

February 7, 2025

INTERACTIVE ARTICLE

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

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

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.”

December 26, 2024

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.

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.

December 6, 2024

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.

By Cassandra Anderson

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.

November 22, 2024

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.

By Angélica Becerra , Betsy Fortune , Emily Ann Francisco

November 6, 2024

ARTICLE

George Morrison Gets His Due

The Minnesota painter merged abstract expressionism with traditional Ojibwe values.

By Robyne Robinson

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.

October 24, 2024

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.

By Wendy MacNaughton

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

October 18, 2024

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.

By Wendy MacNaughton

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

October 11, 2024

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.

By Wendy MacNaughton

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

October 4, 2024

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.

September 13, 2024

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 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.

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

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

Discover Winter Wonders in this Holiday Scavenger Hunt

Artists Who Expand Views of the Southwest

George Morrison Gets His Due

Exquisite Corpse with Kerry James Marshall (and friends!)

Drawing with Scissors with Romare Bearden

Dream Big with Christo and Jeanne-Claude

12 Documentary Photographers Who Changed the Way We See the World

Your Tour of Latinx Artists at the National Gallery

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