Page 65 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Washington, DC

NA TIONAL GALLER Y OF AR T  63

Several paintings by Rubens
in this section testify to his
genius, among them Daniel
in the Lions’ Den (c.1615). This
depicts the Old Testament
pro phet, Daniel, thanking God
for his help during his night
spent surrounded by lions.
In 1617, Rubens exchanged
this work for antique marbles
owned by a British diplomat.
Rubens also painted Deborah
Kip, Wife of Sir Balthasar Gerbier,
and her Children (1629–30). Not
a conventional family portrait, Geometric skylights in the plaza between the West Building to the East Building
the mother and her four
children seem withdrawn the atrium is Untitled, a vast
and pensive, suggesting American Painting red, blue, and black creation
unhappiness and perhaps This important collection by Alexander Calder. It was
even foreboding tragedy. Van of American artists shows commissioned in 1972 for
Dyck painted Rubens’s first wife, evi dence of European influence, the opening of the museum
Isabella Brant (c.1621) toward but in themes that are reso lutely in 1978. At the entrance to
the end of her life. Although American. James McNeill the East Building is Henry
she is smiling, her eyes reveal Whistler’s Mother of Pearl Moore’s bronze sculpture
an inner melancholy. and Silver: The Andalusian Knife Edge Mirror Two Piece
(1888–1900) has a European (1977–8).
sophistication. Mary Cassatt left Also in the East Building are
19th-century French Art
America for exile in Europe and an excellent research center for
This is one of the best was heavily influenced by the schools, offices for the curators
Impressionist collections Impressionists, especially Degas. of the gallery, a library, and a
outside Paris. Works on Boating Party (1893–4) is an large collection of drawings
display include example of one and prints.
Paul Cézanne’s of her recurrent Both the East and West
personal The Artist’s themes: mother buildings also host traveling
Father Reading and child. Children exhibits. These exhibitions
“L’Evénement” Playing on a Beach are not limited to modern
(1866), Auguste (1884) is also a pieces, but have included
Renoir’s A Girl with good example the art of ancient Japan,
a Watering Can of her child American Impressionists,
(1876), Four paintings, and and the sket ches of Leonardo
Dancers (c.1899) Miss Mary Ellison da Vinci in the past.
by Edgar Degas, of her por traiture.
and Claude Winslow Homer’s Sculpture Garden
Monet’s Woman Breezing Up (A Fair
with a Parasol – Miss Mary Ellison by Wind) (1873–6) Located across the street from
Madame Monet Mary Cassatt (1880) is a masterpiece the West Building at 7th Street,
and Her Son (1875) by the American the elegant Sculpture Garden
and Palazzo da Mula, Venice Realist. His painting is a charm- holds 17 sculp tures. The late
(1908). Post-Impressionist ing depiction of three small boys 20th-century works include
works include Seurat’s and a fisherman. pieces by Louise Bourgeois,
Roy Lichtenstein, and Joan
pointillist The Lighthouse at Miró. Although there are
Honfleur (c.1886), in which Modern and large swings in style and
thousands of dots are used size, the sculptures do not
to create the image, and Van Contemporary Art compete with each other
Gogh’s Self Portrait. The latter The enormous East Building because they are spread
was painted in St Rémy in 1889 houses modern and contem - out. Transformed into an ice
when he was staying in an porary art. I.M. Pei’s “H”- shaped rink in winter and a venue
asylum and shows his mastery building contains a vast atrium for free jazz concerts in
at capturing character and which is edged by four balconies summer, the garden functions
emotion. Toulouse-Lautrec’s and adjacent galleries. Archi- both as an outdoor gallery
painting, Quadrille at the Moulin tecturally, this space provides and as a pleasant oasis within
Rouge (1892), depicts a dancer a dramatic focus and spatial the city. The pavilion houses
provocatively raising her skirts orientation for visitors to the a year-round café.
above her ankles. East Building. Centered in

062-063_EW_Washington.indd 63 04/04/17 2:38 pm