National Gallery of Art Washington DC

It’s an odd thing to view some of the greats in real life. To stand squarely in front of pieces by the princes of pop art, dadaism, minimalism and myriad movements, considering how history and hype fare in the cold light of modern day.

At the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, such considerations are all in a day’s ambling. Created in 1937, the majestic building on 6th Street and Constitution Avenue is home to one of the finest art collections in the world.

Though there is much to see in the original west building featuring European paintings dating from the 13th to the early 20th century including painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking and photography from the Middle Ages to present day, we are encouraged to go east at reception.

Past a 24-foot waterfall tumbling in front of the Cascade Café and Espresso and Gelato Bar, through the ‘Multiverse’, a dazzling LED installation by Leo Villareal, and straight into the east building opened in 1978 and presided over by Alexander Cadler’s 76-foot mobile below the gallery’s sun-kissed atrium.

The home of the National Gallery of Art’s modern and contemporary works by artists from around the world, the east building is where one can find Kara Walker. An African American silohuettist whose black and white works on race, identity, slavery, gender and violence speak to Glenn Ligon’s similarly desaturated ‘(Untitled) I am a Man’ in which the black experience is simultaneously specific and shared.

Thrilling in its collection featuring Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Marcel Duchamp, Rene Magritte and Georgia O’Keefe amongst revered others, the National Art Gallery’s exhibitions, impeccably curated, offer insight into various art movements including surrealism, expressionism, fauvism and cubism.

Open every day except Christmas and New Year’s Day, sans an admission fee and equipped with various eating arenas with free Wi-Fi, the National Gallery of Art is particularly modern in its ‘Your Art’ mobile app where, amidst the ability to zoom in on high-res artworks and listen to the stories behind the masterpieces, one can also find out about the massive blue cock overlooking Pennsylvania Avenue.