Virtually explore the National Gallery of Art with us as your guide
Some background
videos + essays
Link to the National Gallery of Art's website
James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl
Forgoing the tradition of narrative painting, Whistler aspired to create a beautiful "symphony."
Childe Hassam, Allies Day, May 1917
Hassam's Impressionist painting provides a visual form of optimism on the very brink of America’s entry into the First World War.
Dürer’s Rhinoceros: art, science, and the Northern Renaissance
For centuries, this print of a rhinoceros has intrigued artists, scientists, and the public alike.
Gilbert Stuart, The Skater
Depicting his subject in motion was a departure from the norm, making this painting the talk of the town.
Thomas Cole, The Voyage of Life
Cole’s extraordinary series chronicles each stage of human life: childhood, youth, manhood, and old age.
George Inness, The Lackawanna Valley
Inness captures a tension between industrial progress and its effect on the American landscape.
John Singleton Copley, Watson and the Shark
A former orphan, Watson became a wealthy and influential man—after surviving a near-fatal shark attack.
Rembrandt Peale, Rubens Peale with a Geranium
An unusual double portrait: a botanist and his geranium.
Freddy Rodríguez, Paradise for a Tourist Brochure
Rodríguez juxtaposes the beauty of the natural world with violent references to Rafael Trujillo's dictatorship in Paradise for a Tourist Brochure.
Henri Matisse, Open Window, Collioure
Although the style implies a rapid or even slipshod painting process, Open Window, Collioure was carefully orchestrated in every aspect.
Hiram Powers, The Greek Slave
Though at first glance this nude seems plucked from classical antiquity, it actually alludes to modern politics.
Helen Frankenthaler, Mountains and Sea
Frankenthaler doesn’t paint the landscape per se, but offers an intuitive response to Cape Breton in Nova Scotia.
