National Gallery of Art - EXHIBITIONS
IMAGE: Celebrating the Legacy of Paul Mellon at the National Gallery of Art

This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery. Please follow the links below for related online resources or visit our current exhibitions schedule.

Related Resources

Watch the Film
Film: Paul Mellon in His Own Words
Watch | iTunes | Watch on ArtBabble | RSS (48:00 mins.)

Installation
Paul Mellon and the National Gallery of Art IMAGE: View the Slideshow
(Download Flash player)

Biography of
Paul Mellon

Paul Mellon Remembered

Online Tour
Founding Benefactors of the National Gallery of Art

NGA Backstory: The Making of a DVD Paul Mellon: In His Own Words
Step behind the scenes of a world-class museum. Host Barbara Tempchin Talks with Joe Krakora, Development and External Affairs Officer
Listen | iTunes | RSS

NGA Backstory: The Mellon Legacy: Andrew and Paul Mellon
Step behind the scenes of a world-class museum. Host Barbara Tempchin talks with Maygene Daniels, Chief of Gallery Archives
Listen | iTunes | RSS

Performance: The Choir of St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle
Live Performance at the National Gallery of Art

Listen to the the Choir of St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle perform Locus iste (Bruckner), Prevent us, O Lord in all our doings (Byrd), Ave maris stella (Grieg), Psalm 121, and Above all praise and majesty (Mendelssohn)
Listen

Press Materials
with Audio

"Paul Mellon: In His Own Words," A new Documentary by the National Gallery of Art Premieres on WETA-TV and Apple iTunes in June (5/22/07)

Venues Celebrating Paul Mellon's Centenary
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Yale Center for British Art

The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond

Fitzwilliam Museum University of Cambridge

Image: Paul Mellon enjoying Edgar Degas' Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen (1879—1881) in the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Gallery, West Building. Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Copyright © Dennis Brack/Black Star It seems to me that art makes one feel the essence of something, turning the ordinary, everyday object or scene into a universal one.
—Paul Mellon

The centenary of the birth of Paul Mellon (1907–1999), philanthropist, art collector, founding benefactor, and trustee of the National Gallery of Art, is celebrated throughout 2007 with exhibitions, gallery talks, lectures, concerts, and a new documentary.

Paul Mellon's visionary leadership of the National Gallery of Art spanned more than six decades, from 1938, when he was first elected to the Board of Trustees, to his death in 1999. During that time he watched over and nurtured the museum's growth from a single grand building to a mature institution with two monumental structures, a sculpture garden, and a world-class collection. More than 1,000 works of art given by Paul Mellon and his wife Bunny form an extraordinary legacy. In addition, he generously contributed funds for acquisitions, education, archives, and the Gallery's Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts.

When Gallery founder Andrew W. Mellon died in 1937, only months after the Gallery had been approved by Congress, it was left to his thirty-year-old son Paul to see the museum to completion. In 1941, Paul Mellon presented the building and his father's collection of art to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who accepted it on behalf of the American people. From that time until his death, Paul Mellon was the museum's greatest benefactor, helping to shape the institution and inspire the gifts and talents of others.

Paul Mellon and the National Gallery of Art
View the Slideshow

A thematic archival display explores Paul Mellon's unequaled influence on the National Gallery of Art. Included are rarely seen documents, photographs, memorabilia, and publications that illuminate Paul Mellon's life and art collecting, his leadership and ideas, and his generosity. Of particular interest are materials relating to the East Building, which was constructed entirely with funds provided by Paul Mellon, his sister Ailsa Mellon Bruce, and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which he founded.