National Portrait Gallery

Meet the people who shaped the country through paintings, photographs and sculpture, including a full gallery of presidential portraits.

8th and G Streets NW · Washington, DC

About National Portrait Gallery

The National Portrait Gallery tells American history through portraits of poets and presidents, visionaries and villains, actors and activists. Its America's Presidents gallery holds the nation's only complete collection of presidential portraits. The museum shares the Old Patent Office Building, a National Historic Landmark built between 1836 and 1867, with the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Between them is the Kogod Courtyard, a glass-canopied space with seating and a cafe.

#smithsonian
#art museum
#presidential portraits
#portraiture

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What's around here?

The closest stops to National Portrait Gallery, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.

Museums
Rainy-Day Pick
Smithsonian American Art Museum
No admission fee
Browse American art from the colonial era to today, watch conservators at work, and wander thousands of objects in open storage.
Transit: reachable by public transit
Right next doorMore like this
Attractions
Family Favorite
Capital One Arena
$50+
Catch Capitals hockey, Wizards basketball, Georgetown games and big concert tours at this downtown arena in Chinatown.
Transit: reachable by public transit
Steps awaySwitch it up: Attractions
Theater & Events
History Buff
Ford's Theatre
Under $25
Stand in the theatre where Lincoln was shot, then cross the street to the Petersen House where the story ended.
Transit: reachable by public transit
Steps awaySwitch it up: Theater & Events
Sightseeing
History Buff
United States Navy Memorial
Under $25
Stand by the Lone Sailor on the giant Granite Sea map across from the National Archives.
Transit: reachable by public transit
0.3 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing
Museums
National Building Museum
Under $25
A Washington museum focused on architecture, design, engineering, construction, and urban planning.
Transit: reachable by public transit
0.3 mi awayMore like this
Museums
Iconic
National Archives Museum
No admission fee
Stand before the originals: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights in the marble Rotunda.
Transit: reachable by public transit
0.3 mi awayMore like this