点评:The National Gallery of Art is not part of the Smithsonian group of Museums and Centers. It is totally independent of the Smithsonian network.
Actually, it was conceived by Andrew W. Mellon, who was actually an art collector, financier and also the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury from 1921 till 1932.
There are two main exhibition structures which make up the National Gallery of Art. The neoclassical building called the West Building was opened in 1941. This is the one that we visited.
And the more modern structure opened in 1978 and was designed by the famous architect I.M. Pei and is called the East Building. This East building has both a large gallery and an Art Research center. Two buildings are connected by an underground passage.
Unfortunately, we only had time to visit the original structure or West building, and that in itself was fantastic!
Today, both structures contain over 150,000 works of art!
What I found was simply unbleavable were the collection of five totally famous international artists such as: Van Goghs “Self Portrait”; Leonardo da Vinci’s “Ginevra de’ Benci”; Raphael’s famous painting titled: “Alba Madonna”; Jan van Eyck’s “The Annunciation” and Giovanni Bellini and Titan’s work “The Feast of the Gods”.
It seems that around each corner in the National Gallery of Art you see another well-known and famous work of art…
My feet were really aching and tender, so I found a great place to sit and relax called: “The West Garden Court” which had a nice indoor fountain, a sun roof, seats and very nice living plants, making this the ideal location to simply relax and enjoy the tranquility of this special space.
All-in-all my grandson and I really enjoyed the National Gallery of Art and look forward to return visit to the East building on our next trip to Washington, D.C.
翻译:国家艺术馆并不属于史密森尼博物馆群。它完全独立于史密森尼体系之外。
实际上,该艺术馆是由安德鲁·W·梅隆提议创建的。他是一位艺术收藏家兼金融家,还在1921年至1932年间担任美国财政部长。
国家艺术馆由两座主要的展览建筑组成。其中那座新古典主义风格的西楼于1941年落成,正是我们参观的那座建筑。较新的那栋建筑于1978年落成,由著名建筑师贝聿铭设计,被称为东楼。东楼内设有一个大型画廊以及一个艺术研究中心。两座建筑之间通过一条地下通道相连。
遗憾的是,我们只来得及参观原来的建筑,也就是西楼,而光是参观西楼就已经令人惊叹不已了!
如今,这两栋建筑中共收藏了超过15万件艺术品!令我惊叹不已的是,那里陈列着五幅极其著名的国际级艺术杰作:梵高的《自画像》;达·芬奇的《吉内夫拉·德·本奇》;拉斐尔的名作《阿尔巴圣母》;扬·凡·艾克的《报喜》;以及乔瓦尼·贝利尼和提香共同创作的《众神之宴》。
似乎在国家艺术馆的每一个转角处,都能看到另一幅闻名遐迩的艺术杰作……
我的双脚真的又痛又酸呢。于是我找到了一个非常适合坐下来休息的好地方,名叫“西区花园庭院”。那里有一个漂亮的室内喷泉、露天屋顶、座椅,还有众多生机盎然的绿植,真是个能让人尽情放松、享受这片宁静空间的绝佳去处。
总的来说,我和孙子都非常喜欢国家艺术馆,期待下次再来华盛顿特区时能参观东馆。