National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art sits on the National Mall between the Capitol and the Washington Monument, and it is free to everyone, every day it is open. It was founded in 1937 with the gift of the financier Andrew Mellon, who gave both his collection of Old Master paintings and the money to build a home for them. The West Building, opened in 1941, is a calm marble palace with a domed rotunda and long garden courts. The East Building, designed by I. M. Pei and opened in 1978, is a sharp-angled modern structure of triangles and light. An underground concourse with a moving walkway and a waterfall links the two.

The collection runs from the thirteenth century to the present. The West Building holds European painting and sculpture from the Middle Ages to the early twentieth century, the only Leonardo da Vinci painting in the Americas, superb Dutch and Flemish rooms, a deep French Impressionist collection and the country's finest gathering of American painting. The East Building holds modern and contemporary art, with Calder, Rothko, Pollock and Picasso, and hosts the large temporary exhibitions. Outside, a sculpture garden with a fountain that becomes an ice rink in winter fills the block to the west.

A first visit works best if you choose one building and one era. The main floor of the West Building alone can fill a day, so plan a route through the Italian, Dutch, French and American rooms rather than trying to see everything.