The
National Gallery of Art, and its attached
Sculpture Garden, is a national
art museum in
Washington, D.C., located on the
National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at
Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in 1937 for the American people by a joint resolution of the
United States Congress.
Andrew W. Mellon donated a substantial art collection and funds for construction. The core collection includes major works of art donated by
Paul Mellon,
Ailsa Mellon Bruce,
Lessing J. Rosenwald,
Samuel Henry Kress, Rush Harrison Kress,
Peter Arrell Brown Widener,
Joseph E. Widener, and
Chester Dale. The Gallery's collection of paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculpture, medals, and decorative arts traces the development of Western Art from the Middle Ages to the present, including the only painting by
Leonardo da Vinci in the Americas and the largest mobile created by
Alexander Calder.