Corcoran Gallery of Art, main entrance on 17th Street

The Corcoran Gallery of Art is the largest privately supported cultural institution in Washington, DC. The museum's main focus is American art. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1200x1600, 643 KB) Corcoran Gallery of Art, main entrance on 17th Street NW across from the Ellipse, in Washington, D.C. Photo taken by Kmf164 on December 4, 2005. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1200x1600, 643 KB) Corcoran Gallery of Art, main entrance on 17th Street NW across from the Ellipse, in Washington, D.C. Photo taken by Kmf164 on December 4, 2005. ... Aerial photo (looking NW) of the Washington Monument and the White House in Washington, DC. Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia (also known as D.C.; Washington; the Nations Capital; the District; and, historically, the Federal City) is the capital city and administrative district of the United... The Rocky Mountains, Landers Peak, 1863 by Albert Bierstadt, one of the Hudson River School painters Visual arts of the United States refers to the history of painting and visual art in the United States. ...

History

The Corcoran is the oldest art museum in DC. Founded in 1869 by William Wilson Corcoran, cofounder of Riggs Bank, and Timothy Ian Corcoran, it was one of the first fine art galleries in the country[1]. Since its founding it has been Washington, DC's largest non-Federal museum. Its mission is to be "dedicated to art and used solely for the purpose of encouraging the American genius." An art gallery or art museum is a space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art, and usually primarily paintings and sculpture. ... 1869 (MDCCCLXIX) is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... William Wilson Corcoran (1798 – 1888) was an American banker, philanthropist, and art collector. ... Riggs Bank was a Washington, DC-based commercial bank with branches located in the surrounding metropolitan area and offices around the world. ... The Cornfield is an oil on canvas painting by John Constable in 1826 Fine art refers to arts that are concerned with beauty or which appealed to taste (SOED 1991). ...

The original building is 135,000 square feet (12,500 m²), a Beaux-Arts building by architect Ernest Flagg described by Frank Lloyd Wright as the "best designed building in Washington, DC." A new addition, designed by architect Frank O. Gehry, had been planned that would have added 140,000 square feet (13,000 m²) to the museum, but because of funding problems the addition was scrapped in summer 2005. Beaux-Arts architecture[1] denotes the academic classical architectural style that was taught at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. ... Ernest Flagg (February 6, 1857-April 10, 1947) was a noted American architect in the Beaux-Arts style. ... Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959), Master of the Organic Architecture, was one of the most prominent and influential architects of the first half of the 20th century. ... The Gehry tower in Hannover Frank Owen Gehry (born Ephraim Goldberg on February 28, 1929) is an architect known for his interesting use of metal sheathing for his buildings. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Today, the Museum and its affiliated art and design college together have a staff of about 185 and an operating budget of about $20 million. Revenue comes from various sources, including grants and contributions, admissions fees, tuition, membership dues, gift shop and restaurant sales, and an endowment currently worth around $30 million. In February 2001, two AOL executives, Robert Pittman and Barry Schuler, and their wives donated $30 million, the largest single donation since the museum's founding. Endowment may refer to many things: Finance Financial endowment; relating to funds or property donated to institutions or individuals. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Barry Martin Schuler (born September 7, 1953 in Jersey City, New Jersey) is American Internet pioneer, perhaps best known for making the Internet easy to use consumers while working for America Online for seven years, and being the CEO for three years. ...

Visiting

The museum is located at the intersection of New York Avenue and 17th Street in Northwest DC, one block away from the White House. Although closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, it is open all other days from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and on Thursdays from 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM. New York Avenue is one of the diagonal avenues radiating from the White House in Washington, D.C. It is a major east-west route in the citys Northwest and Northeast quadrants and connects downtown with points east and north of the city via the John Hanson Highway and... Color-enhanced USGS satellite image of Washington, DC, taken April 26, 2002. ... North façade of the White House, seen from Pennsylvania Avenue. ...

The permanent collection includes works by Eugène Delacroix, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Rembrandt, Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Andy Warhol, and many others. There are always several exhibitions, which can be found on the museum's website. Eugène Delacroix (portrait by Nadar) Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix (April 26, 1798 – August 13, 1863) was the most important of the French Romantic painters. ... Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (19 July 1834 – 27 September 1917) was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpture, and drawing. ... Claude Monet. ... This article is about the Dutch artist. ... Young Pablo Picasso Pablo Picasso (October 25, 1881 – April 8, 1973) was a Spanish painter and sculptor. ... Pierre-Auguste Renoir. ... Andy Warhol, photographed by Helmut Newton. ...

See also

• Corcoran College of Art and Design

The Corcoran College of Art and Design, founded in 1890, is the only professional college of art and design in Washington, DC. The school is affilliated with the Corcoran Gallery of Art. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Corcoran Gallery of Art

• Official Corcoran Gallery of Art site
• Official Corcoran College of Art + Design site