The Hirshhorn presents art in a range of media, including works on paper, painting, installation, photography, sculpture, digital and video art, and works that mix all or some of the above. Our collection of modern art (late-nineteenth century to mid-twentieth century) and contemporary art (from the 1970s to today) includes in-depth holdings by some of the best-known artists of our time, as well as the work of today’s most promising emerging artists.

The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft and is part of the Smithsonian Institution. It was conceived as the United States' museum of contemporary and modern art and currently focuses its collection-building and exhibition-planning mainly on the post–World War II period, with particular emphasis on art made during the last 50 years. Notable artists in the collection include: Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Mary Cassatt, Thomas Eakins, Henry Moore, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, Hans Hofmann, Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, John Chamberlain, David Smith, Francis Bacon, Willem de Kooning, Milton Avery, Ellsworth Kelly, Louise Nevelson, Arshile Gorky, Edward Hopper, Larry Rivers, and Raphael Soyer among others. Outside the museum is a sculpture garden, featuring works by artists including Auguste Rodin, Jeff Koons, and Alexander Calder. The building itself is as much of an attraction as anything inside, likened by many to a large spacecraft parked on the National Mall.

The building is essentially an open cylinder elevated by four massive "legs", with a large fountain occupying the central courtyard. Before Gordon Bunshaft, of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, designed the building, the Smithsonian staff reportedly told him that, if it did not provide a striking contrast to everything else in the city, then it would be unfit for housing a modern art collection.

7th Street and Independence Avenue SW
Washington, DC 20560
Phone: (202) 633-4880
http://hirshhorn.si.edu/

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