Art and Art Museums
Washington, DC, houses dozens of museums; many of them are free. You can view well-known paintings from European and American masters; learn about ancient Egyptian and Asian art. Most are closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas, but check each website to determine closures. By taking some time to review the website of each museum, you can better determine which art museum would house objects of interest to you.
American Art Museum (Smithsonian) 
(202) 633-7970
8th and F Streets, NW, Washington, DC 20004
Hours and Admission
Open Daily: 11:30AM-7PM
Closed on December 25
No admission charged
America's first federal art collection is dedicated to American art. It includes sculpture, photographs, folk art, contemporary craft, paintings and decorative arts. You will find works by Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper and many others. For families, the museum has scavenger hunt activities for children as well as monthly SAAM I AM family days, artist demonstrations and musical performances.
Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (Smithsonian)
(202) 633-4880
Freer: 12th and Jefferson Drive, SW, Washington, DC 20560 
Sackler: 1050 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20560
Hours and Admission
Open Daily: 10AM-5:30PM
Closed on December 25
No admission charged
These two Smithsonian Museums are connected by an underground exhibition space. They feature wide-ranging collections of American, Egyptian and Asian art works. Objects include paintings, manuscripts, ceramics and lacquerwork, precious metals, calligraphy, glass and earthenware.
Hillwood Museum and Gardens
(202) 686-5807
4155 Linnean Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20008
Hours and Admission
Tuesday-Sunday: 10am-5pm
Closed Monday's, most national holidays and several weeks at the end of January.
No admission charged; donations suggested.
Hillwood is the former 25-acre estate of Marjorie Merriweather Post, heir to the Post cereal fortune. It features French and Russian art collections as well as beautiful gardens, which are maintained in the same manner as when Mrs. Post lived at Hillwood. Self-guided and docent tours available.
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Smithsonian)
(202) 633-4674
Corner of 7th Street and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20560
Hours and Admission
Open Daily: 10am-5:30pm
Museum Plaza: 7:30am-5:30pm
Museum Garden: 7:30am-dusk
No admission charged; donations accepted
This Smithsonian museum, which bears the name of renowned collector Joseph H. Hirshhorn (1889-1981) who donated more than 6,000 paintings and sculptures, features international modern and contemporary art. Daily tours conducted by docents. The Sculpture Garden is located on the National Mall and contains more than 60 large-scale works of art from Auguste Rodin, Alexander Calder, Henry Moore and others.
Kreeger Museum
(202) 338-3552
2401 Foxhall Road, NW, Washington, DC 20007
Hours and Admission
Sculpture Garden is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-4pm.
There is no admission for the sculpture garden.
Tuesday-Thursday, the museum open only for tours at 10:30am and 1:30pm.
Reservations required and admision is charged.
The museum is closed Monday and Tuesday.
Highlights 19th and 20th century paintings and sculptures including works of Van Gogh, Picasso, Renoir, Cezanne, Chagall, Rodin, Monet and many others.
National Gallery of Art
(202) 737-4215
6th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20565
Hours and Admission
Monday–Saturday: 10:00am–5:00pm
Sunday: 11:00am–6:00pm
Closed December 25 and January 1
No admission charged
One of the nation's premier art galleries with two halls--one devoted to classic painters, and the other with more modern works. The collection began in 1937 with a gift collection from financier Andrew W. Mellon. That collection formed the nucleus of one of the world’s most outstanding galleries. In the West Building, you can find works from European masters like van Gogh, Cezanne, Monet and Rembrandt along with the only da Vinci on public display in the U.S. The East Building focuses more on modern and contemporary works.
National Museum of African Art (Smithsonian)
(202) 633-4600
950 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20560
Hours and Admission
10am-5:30pm daily
Closed December 25
No admission charged
The collection at this museum features artistic expressions from ancient to contemporary Africa, including ceramics, textiles, furniture, tools, masks, figures and musical instruments as well as traditional art forms of painting and sculpture. Among the amazing items on exhibit are a 15th century hunting horn from Sierra Leone and a 16th-century Yoruba armlet from Nigeria that is carved from a single piece of ivory.
National Museum of Women in the Arts
(202) 783-5000
1250 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20005
Hours and Admission
10am-5pm Monday-Saturday
12-5pm Sunday
Closed January 1, Thanksgiving Day, December 25
Admission charged
This museum is dedicated to the exhibition, preservation and acquisition of works by women artists. Its permanent collection of more than 3,000 works ranges from the 16th century to the present.
National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian)
(202) 633-1000
8th and F Streets, NW, Washington, DC 20001
Hours and Admission
11:30am-7pm daily
Closed December 25
No admission charged
Specializes in American art, history and biography , including works by Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper. It contains visual arts, performing arts and new media to portray individuals who have shaped our country's culture. Collections include American presidents, George Washington, Colonial America and the American Revolution. The America's Presidents exhibit is the nation's only complete collection of presidential portraits outside the White House. There are interactive tours available.
O Street Mansion Museum
(202) 496-2000
2020 O ("Oh") St NW, Washington, DC 20036
Hours and Admission
11am-3:30pm, Monday-Saturday
1:30pm-3:30pm Sunday
Admission is $15 for self-guided tour
Other programs and tours have different fees. See O Street Mansion website for details.
The O Street Museum Foundation is a unique institution that combines a wide range of paintings, photographs, books, sculptures music, and artifacts from across the world that all serve to highlight the beauty of the creative process. The museum provides a hands-on, one-of-a-kind experience that is unique to each individual visit—the collection rotates and changes on a daily basis. In addition to the art collection, the museum also offers programs for those interested in learning more about art, concerts and songwriting.
Phillips Collection
(202) 387-2151
1600 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009
Hours and Admission
Tuesday-Saturday: 10am-5pm
Thursday, open until 8:30pm for "Phillips After 5" ticket holders.
Sunday: Noon-7pm
Closed Mondays and most federal holidays
Admission to the museum collection is, "by donation" Tuesday-Friday
$8-$10 Saturday and Sunday.
Admission is $10-$12 for ticketed exhibits.
America's first modern art museum opened in 1921 and features nearly 2,500 works by American and European impressionist and modern artists. The museum's best-known work is Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party.
Featured European artists include Cezanne, Degas, Matisse, Monet, Picasso and Renoir along with Americans Winslow Homer, James Abbott McNeill Whistler and Albert Ryder.
Renwick Gallery (Smithsonian)
(202) 633-7970
1661 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC 20006
Corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 17th Street NW.
Hours and Admission
Open Daily 10am-5:30pm daily
Closed December 25
No admission charged
This National Historic Landmark is part of the Smithsonian Museum collection. It features American crafts and decorative arts from the 19th to the 21st century.
United States Department of the Interior Mural Tour
(202) 208-4743
1849 C Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20240
Hours and Admission
Tours offered on Tuesday and Thursday at 2pm
No admission charged; reservation required.
Referred to as a “symbol of a new day” during the Great Depression, the Stewart Lee Udall Department of the Interior Building contains 26 photographic murals by Ansel Adams as well as more than fifty mural panels painted by artists such as Maynard Dixon, Allan Houser, Gifford Beal, and John Steuart Curry.
Paintings include depictions of significant characters and events throughout American history including Native Americans and the Industrial Revolution.
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