Tour Details
Duration
3 hours
Product Type
Tour
Venues
National Gallery of Art
Photos & Highlights
- Tour National Gallery of Art with an art historian
- Discuss art history, material culture, and object conservation
Select a date
Tour Description
Created with a gift from financier and art collector Andrew W. Mellon, the National Gallery of Art opened its doors in 1941 as a museum devoted to the people of the United States of America. Mr. Mellon believed that the nation deserved a collection, open and free to the public, that could hold its own with the greatest collections of the world. In the company of an art historian, we'll explore highlights by Van Eyck, Rembrandt, and a host of American masters during this three-hour National Gallery of Art tour.
Our tour begins with a discussion of the museum’s most significant benefactors, including Mr. Mellon and others. We'll consider how the NGA’s neoclassical West Building embodies the modern visions and ideologies of these early supporters of art appreciation in Washington, DC while also looking back to the greatest architecture of antiquity.
As we move through the galleries, we will take a look at some of the NGA’s earliest masterworks in the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Italian galleries. Moving on, we’ll have a chance to explore everything from Dutch and Flemish paintings of the seventeenth century to American and British paintings of the nineteenth century. Using these objects as our visual textbook, we’ll learn about the development of major genres of Western art like portraiture, still-life, and landscapes. We'll also delve into a discussion about national art schools like London’s Royal Academy, Philadelphia’s Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and New York’s National Academy of Design.
Tour participants will get up close and personal with some of the NGA’s most prized and adored collections while uncovering hidden gems along the way. In addition to gaining a better understanding of the history of Western art, clients will hone their active “looking” skills and learn to think like an artist —a skill you can take away for your next museum trip.
Can this tour include temporary exhibits?
If you are interested in visiting one of the Gallery's temporary exhibits, please contact us to see if this can be arranged.
There are certain works I would like to see. Can these be included?
Feel free can put any requests in the additional notes when booking, and your expert guide will take these into consideration.
Is this tour suitable for children?
This tour has not been especially designed for younger learners in mind; however, we can aim to assign a family-friendly guide for the tour. Families may also like to book our The National Mall Tour for Kid,s which has been designed for children 12 and under.
If you are interested in visiting one of the Gallery's temporary exhibits, please contact us to see if this can be arranged.
There are certain works I would like to see. Can these be included?
Feel free can put any requests in the additional notes when booking, and your expert guide will take these into consideration.
Is this tour suitable for children?
This tour has not been especially designed for younger learners in mind; however, we can aim to assign a family-friendly guide for the tour. Families may also like to book our The National Mall Tour for Kid,s which has been designed for children 12 and under.
Can visitors with mobility issues take this tour?
Yes, the National Gallery of Art is wheelchair accessible, and wheelchairs are available for loan to visitors with mobility issues (on a first come-first-serve basis). All public spaces and facilities are accessible by elevator. If you have any mobility concerns, please make a note of these in the additional notes when booking so your expert guide is aware.
Where You'll Start
–
66 Reviews
Reviews can only be left by Context customers after they have completed a tour. For more information about our reviews, please see our FAQ.
Sara was a delight. Not only was she knowledgable, punctual and interesting, she was also well prepared and experienced. We love how she supplemented the museum content with other images on her iPad. She had a strong narrative that connected paintings as early as the dark ages through to Impressionism. If there is any critique, I would suggest a few sentences in her introduction to explain her narrative and goals of showing the evolution of painting from one period to the next via a singular example of that period. She did show a map of the museum, but did not tie it in with the proposed content. My father was a little confused at the beginning because he didn't realize that we would only look at one painting from each period in order to use it as an example for all the rest. He felt we skipped a lot of content, but then loved the structure after he realized the structure of the walk. Thanks Sara, all the best to you!
Amber
Reviewed on:
Jun 24, 2016
Lacey was a great guide, very knowledgeable. One thing we really liked is that she had an ipad with her that she used to reference other relevant works, architecture and photographs. Those things really helped us gain a greater context without being distracting. This walk was like taking a semester of Art History in 3 hours, we saw so many paintings and took in so much information, but Lacey did a good job of giving a us a context to look at each individual work and also the collection as a whole. She also gave us a good foundation for looking at art in general, something that we can use in our future visits. It was great to learn about the history of the museum itself and understand how the collection came to be. It was very clear that her focus of study is American art, as she was most comfortable and extra passionate when talking about the paintings in that section of the museum. I wish we could have spent more time there, even if it meant missing out on something else, because I would have really liked to know more about those works.
Erin
Reviewed on:
Oct 27, 2015
It was great! The dropdown boxes didn't work to allow me to rate everything--but I put my feedback in the comment boxes. It was a very positive experience, we really enjoyed it! Thank you!
Erin
Reviewed on:
Oct 27, 2015