Corcoran Gallery of Art

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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.

1 History
2 Visiting
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] History

The Corcoran is the oldest art museum in DC. Founded in 1869 by William Wilson Corcoran, cofounder of Riggs Bank, 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."

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.

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.

[edit] 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.

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.