In the 1920s, art collector and financier Andrew Mellon decided that the city needed a proper museum of art to rival those in Europe. With construction funds, a sizable endowment, and art all donated from Mellon, construction on the National Gallery of Art was begun in 1937. The building, designed in a classical style by John Russell Pope, was dedicated on March 17, 1941. The museum quickly attracted donations from other prominent art dealers, and today features art from around the world.
John Russell Pope
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. View original.