Corcoran Gallery of Art | American art, 19th-century art, Impressionism

Corcoran Gallery of Art, museum in Washington, D.C., chartered by Congress in 1870 and established through the provisions made by the banker William W. Corcoran. The collection, noted for its comprehensive display of American painting from the colonial through the modern period, was housed in a classical revival building from 1897 until its transfer to the National Gallery of Art (NGA) in the early 21st century. From 1926 the Corcoran also housed the bequeathed collection of Senator William A. Clark, which was noted for its French and Dutch paintings and its decorative arts.

(Read Sister Wendy’s Britannica essay on art appreciation.)

In 2014, after decades of crippling financial struggles, the Corcoran Gallery and the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design were brought under the auspices of the NGA and George Washington University, respectively. According to the terms of the court ruling, the Corcoran Gallery’s building would be owned by the university, and custody of the collection would go to the NGA. A portion of the building would continue to be used for exhibitions of the Corcoran collection and contemporary art.

(Read Glenn Lowry’s Britannica essay on “Art Museums & Their Digital Future.”)