East Building of the National Gallery of Art
- Architect
- I. M. Pei
- Year
- 1978
- Style
- Contemporary Modern
- City
- Washington, DC
The East Building of the National Gallery of Art opened in 1978 to a design by I. M. Pei, the modernist counterpart to John Russell Pope's original neoclassical West Building. The National Gallery itself was privately established in 1937 by joint resolution of Congress, funded and stocked with art by Andrew W. Mellon, and the East Building's construction extended that campus with a distinctly geometric, sculptural presence on the National Mall.
the building
Underground link to the West Building. Pei's modernist East Building connects to Pope's neoclassical West Building by an underground passage, joining two very different architectural languages into one continuous museum campus.
The largest Calder mobile. The Gallery's collection includes the largest mobile ever created by Alexander Calder, housed within the building Pei designed to hold the museum's modern and contemporary holdings.
the style
The East Building is a work of modern architecture, known for bold geometric massing and a highly visible sculptural facade that sets it apart from the classicism of its neighbor across the Mall.
More on Contemporary Modernnearby
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- Canadian Chancery
- National Gallery of Art
- Federal Trade Commission Building
- Henry J. Daly Building
- National Museum of the American Indian