Excellent Eastern Adventure - Smithsonian

In the afternoon, I spent a couple of hours at the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery and American Art Museum, which I had never been to before. There was a nice selection of paintings both historical and modern.


The portraits covered the whole of American history -


-from Colonial times up through the present. There was a whole wing devoted to portraits of all of the American Presidents.


There were the obligatory landscapes of American countrysides...


My favorite section was the 19th century art. The majority of which I had never seen before.


My favorite set of paintings were by an artist that I've run across a number of times lately - Abbott Handerson Thayer. His figures were lovely - and somewhat melancholy. The series of angelic figures were sadly painted after the death of his apparently beloved wife. They were stunning in person.