In the 1920s, American financier and statesman Andrew Mellon began collecting art with the intention of establishing a new art museum in Washington. In 1936 he offered his collection to the country and offered also to provide a building for the new National Gallery of Art.

Designed by architect John Russell Pope, the neoclassic building was opened in 1941. Other collectors followed Mellon’s example and donated their collections to the Gallery, and by the 1960s it had outgrown the West Building. I.M. Pei designed the innovative new East Building which was opened in 1978. The building was paid for by Andrew Mellon’s son and daughter.

Net National Gallery of Art is divided into two main buildings. The West Building features European paintings and sculptures from the thirteenth to the nineteenth centuries, including American works, a substantial Impressionist collection, and new Sculpture Gallery. The East Building features modern art. An underground concourse connects the two buildings.