Search the National Gallery of Art Library Collections by selecting from one of the Collection Catalogs below.
The National Gallery of Art Library is a major national art research center serving the Gallery's staff, members of the Center for Advanced Study, visiting scholars, and qualified researchers in accordance with National Gallery of Art rules and requirements.
The Library contains a comprehensive collection of more than 375,000 books, periodicals, and publications on the history, theory, and criticism of art and architecture. Microform, along with extensive vertical files, supplement the Library's book holdings.
The Library's Department of Image Collections contains over thirteen million images comprising photographs, negatives, slides, microforms, digital files, and reproductive prints of primarily Western art in all formats from daguerrotypes to jpegs. Today, this collection is one of the largest image research centers for art and architecture in the world.
Other strengths of the Library's collection include monographs on individual artists as well as international exhibition, museum, and private collection catalogues. The Library holds approximately 2,400 periodical titles, of which about 1,000 are current. It also subscribes to all categories of auction catalogues from all major American and European auction houses, and has a rich retrospective collection of catalogues from the seventeenth century to the present.
The Library also maintains a rare book room containing exceptional resources for study and research. Contact the reference librarian for details.
CONTACT INFORMATION
National Gallery of Art Library
4th Street, NW and Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC
Mailing Address:
Library
National Gallery of Art
2000B South Club Drive
Landover, MD 20875
Contact the Library
Contact the Image Collections Department
HOURS
M: 12:00 noon - 4:30 p.m.
Tu-F: 10:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
(except federal holidays)
Call for appointment:
Library: (202) 842-6511
Image Collections: (202) 842-6026
Reading Room Guidelines:
Policies and Procedures (PDF 80k)
Copyright © 2011 Dennis Brack/Black Star
Mercury, c. 1780/1800, after Giovanni Bologna