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Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Review
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Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
- Address: Independence Ave. and 7th St. SW, The Mall, Washington, DC | Map It
- Phone: 202/633-1000
- www.hirshhorn.si.edu
- Category: Museums/Galleries
- Location: The Mall
Fodor's Review:
Sculpture on the National Mall is mostly marble columns and dead presidents, but in 2003 the Hirshhorn made a bold addition: a 32-foot-tall yellow cartoon brushstroke sculpture by pop-art iconographer Roy Lichtenstein. It became a beloved local landmark and an apt symbol of the Hirshhorn itself. Conceived as the nation's museum of modern and contemporary art, the Hirshhorn is home to more than 11,000 works by masters like Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Piet Mondrian, Willem de Kooning, and Andy Warhol. These are displayed in a 1974 round poured-concrete building. Designed by Gordon Bunshaft, it was dubbed the "Doughnut on the Mall" when it was built, but today it's seen as a fitting home for contemporary art. Most of the collection was bequeathed by the museum's founder, Joseph H. Hirshhorn, a Latvian immigrant who made his fortune in uranium mines.
The internationally renowned sculpture collection inside has masterpieces by Henry Moore, Alberto Giacometti, and Constantin Brancusi. Outside, sculptures dot a grass-and-granite garden, which, in addition to the Lichtenstein, boasts Henri Matisse's Backs I-IV and Auguste Rodin's Burghers of Calais. Don't miss the giant Alexander Calder mobiles. The collection is constantly updated with best of contemporary art, which often includes fun, interactive installations, such as Danish artist Olafur Eliasson's Round Rainbow, a room in which a rotating prism transforms a beam of light into undulating colors bathing visitors' faces.
Free docent-led walk-in tours run daily at noon, and again on weekdays at 3 and weekends at 2. In summer there are tours of the sculpture garden Monday to Saturday at 10:30 am. Tours of special exhibitions vary; inquire at the information desk. There are free activities and projects for children ages 5 to 11 and their parents at the musuem's drop-in Improv Art Room on the lower level.
Exhibitions change regularly, so there's no guarantee that a particular piece from the permanent collection will be on view when you visit. If you're looking for a specific work or artist, browse the museum Web site's "Collection Search" feature, which will tell you whether a work is on display or archived.
- Cost: Free
- Open: Museum daily 10-5:30, sculpture garden 7:30-dusk
- Metro: Smithsonian or L'Enfant Plaza (Maryland Ave. exit)
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