Following a two-year renovation, the galleries devoted to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism in the West Building of the National Gallery of Art will reopen to the public on January 28. Among the greatest collections in the world of paintings by Manet, Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, Van Gogh, and Gauguin, the Gallery's later 19th-century French paintings will return to public view in a freshly conceived installation design.
During the two-year period of repair, restoration, and renovation, works normally on view in these galleries were either in storage, on loan, or featured in a special installation—From Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection—in the West Building Ground Floor galleries. Some 50 of the greatest works from this collection were included in major exhibitions shown in Houston, Tokyo, and Kyoto.
Also take time visit the Small French Paintings galleries in the East Building. Designed to accommodate the extraordinary gift of French paintings from Ailsa Mellon Bruce, they are among the most beloved at the Gallery. The works in these rooms have also been part of reconsidering the 19th-century French collection in the West Building.
The quiet, winter months of January and February are an excellent time to visit the National Gallery or any of the other Smithsonian art museums, before throngs of tourists descend on Washington in the spring, summer, and fall.
