Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery
The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC sounds rather boring considering all the other options in the neighborhood. However, this is one of the most educational and entertaining museums.
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Overview
The National Portrait Gallery was founded in 1962 and opened in its current location in the Old Patent Office building in 1968. The focus is on displaying portraits of the “men and women who have made significant contributions to the history, development, and culture of the people of the United States.”
The National Portrait Gallery is actually two museums in one as it shares the building with the Smithsonian American Art Museum. On a given floor each museum occupies half of that floor. However, as you go up a floor the museums shift. So, if you are on the first floor of the National Portrait Gallery, when you walk to the second floor you will be in the American Art Museum.
Both museums are, like most of the Smithsonian museums, free to the public. This allows you to walk in and out at your leisure. In this case, it is welcome because, unlike the Smithsonian museums on the mall, there are many attractive dining options.
Location and Logistics
The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery is located in the heart of Washington, D.C. several blocks from the National Mall. It is right by Capital Arena (where the Wizards and Capitals play) and near Chinatown and Ford’s Theater where Lincoln was assassinated.
We have often traveled by Metro when our family lived by a Metro station. The National Portrait Gallery is a block off the Metro from either the Metro Center stop or the Gallery Place/Chinatown stop. The museum runs from F Street and G Street along 7th and 9th Avenue. When you exit the Metro stations (which can run several blocks) look for signs that point you in the right direction.
In recent years, we have driven into the District and parked in one of the many garages. We use the app SpotHero. This allows you to put in your destination and find all available parking spaces. Generally, a garage close to the museums will be about $20 for most of the day. If you are willing to walk further, you can find lower prices. On our last visit to the National Portrait Gallery we found a place right across the street where we got 5 hours of parking for $15
Overall, I consider central Washington, D.C. fairly easy and reasonable for transportation and parking. In order to have more time seeing sites I recommend paying a little extra to be close.
The National Portrait Gallery has two entrances. One is on G Street and one is on F Street. Both entrances take you to the main level.
The museum runs in a square with an enclosed atrium in the middle. The space is shared with the Smithsonian American Art Museum. One side, for each museum. However, as you go up floors, the side each museum is on switches.
Basically, when you go to the National Portrait Gallery you will also be going to the Smithsonian American Art Museum. That is a good thing because the American Art Museum is a lot of fun, even for people who don’t enjoy art.
Exhibits
The National Portrait Gallery will have paintings, photos or sculptures of all kinds of American’s of note. There are also regular special exhibitions that change frequently. In many cases, one a person of note dies the museum will have a special exhibition.
We were there shortly after the author Toni Morrison passed away and noted that we had just missed a three-month exhibit dedicated to her work (she passed away 8/5/2019 and the exhibit ran from 8/6 to 11/7/2019).
Go here to see a full list of past exhibits
The permanent exhibits go through American history from the days of exploration to modern day Americans.
The first-floor exhibits run along 7th Street from F Street to G Street. The exhibits start with the age of exploration, onto American Origins and the Civil War. Special exhibitions run along the central corridor to the middle of the museum.
Recent acquisitions (such as a photo of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos) are found on the first-floor hallway along G Street.
The second-floor exhibits are on the opposite end of the museum, along 8th Street from F Street to G Street. These are above the first-floor exhibits of the American Art Museum. If you are confused so were we on our first few visits. In several cases you may not know you are passing between the two museums.
The second floor has a large area for special exhibitions and also features the very popular American Presidents exhibit. This exhibit has portraits of all the presidents. The most popular is the new portrait of Barack Obama. When we visited there was a ling of people to get their picture taken by his portrait.
The third floor runs along F Street and the focus is on 20th Century Americans and beyond. This is also home to the popular new portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama.
Special exhibits are a huge focus of the National Portrait Gallery. They change on a regular basis and make the museum always worth revisiting.
When we visited at the end of 2019, there were several exhibits on women’s rights, especially suffrage, but also women in the Civil War and other topics. One exhibit, titled “in-mid sentence” featured photographs of important times of communication.
One exhibit we enjoyed on out visit was entitled The Outwin 2019: American Portraiture Today. This featured submissions by 50 artists in various media. Visitors were able to vote on their favorites. These went beyond just portraits. For example, one piece was a 4-minute video of the artist breaking a platform she was standing on. It appears this exhibit runs every few years. The current exhibit runs through the summer of 2020 (August 30).
Dining and Shopping
In general dining at the Smithsonian museums is expensive and mediocre. However, unlike the museums on the National Mall there are plenty of dining options in this neighborhood.
The central courtyard does have a small café but we have not tried it (the Courtyard Cafe). Instead we use our visits to try different restaurants.
Right across F Street from the museum is where we first tried the famed Shake Shack burger chain. Shake Shack has expanded to our San Diego area, so we now look for other options. (Shake Shack is really good but we prefer our local In-N-Out Burger).
For pizza we enjoyed PI Pizzeria. On our last visit we walked a couple block to Chinatown to try out Nando’s Peri Peri Chicken. It appears this is a local DC/Baltimore area chain that also has a few locations in Chicago.
We really enjoyed Nandos but it is one of only many options in the neighborhood. This includes upscale options like Jaleo from famed chef Jose Andres (we have eaten at his Oyamel restaurant about 4 blocks away).
Like all Smithsonian museums, the gift shops for both the American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery are worth a visit. They are located next to each other on the first floor along G street.
When we visited at the end of 2019, the downtown holiday market was in full force directly in front of the museum on F Street. It appear that other market may operate here during the year.
Fun Diego Family has deep roots in Washington, DC. I was born at George Washington University Hospital a few blocks from the White House. For 25 years my parents lived in Rosslyn by the Key Bridge and Arlington Cemetery. My brother and family lives in Vienna, Virginia.
As regular visitors to the area we are doing guides to the places that our family likes to go to when we visit. The places we are covering are attractions our family ask to return to on a regular basis. The come highly approved.
The National Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum are close to the top of our list of Smithsonian museums. This is coming from a family that are not the greatest art aficionados.
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