Frommer's Review
This museum of modern and contemporary art is named after Latvian-born Joseph H. Hirshhorn, who, in 1966, donated his vast collection -- more than 4,000 drawings and paintings and 2,000 pieces of sculpture -- to the United States "as a small repayment for what this nation has done for me and others like me who arrived here as immigrants." The Hirshhorn opened in 1974 to display these works, adding 5,500 more bequeathed by Hirshhorn in 1981, upon his death.
Constructed 14 feet above ground on sculptured supports, the doughnut-shaped concrete-and-granite building stands 82 feet high and measures 231 feet in diameter. The cylindrically shaped building encloses a hollow core, where a fountain spouts water five stories high. The building's light and airy interior holds three levels of galleries, each following a circular route that makes it easy to see every exhibit without getting lost in a honeycomb of galleries. Natural light from floor-to-ceiling windows makes the inner galleries the perfect venue for regarding sculpture -- second only to the beautiful tree-shaded sunken Sculpture Garden across the street (don't miss it). Make your way to the third-floor oculus and you'll be rewarded with a dramatic view of the National Mall.
Don't miss the Hirshhorn's "Ways of Seeing" project on the lower-level galleries, which displays innovative groupings of different works focusing on a particular theme, as chosen by an invited artist. For instance, a 2007 grouping conceived by contemporary artist John Baldessari included paintings by Milton Avery, Thomas Eakins, and Phillip Guston and sculpture by Emily Kaufman, the differences in time, technique and subject granting viewers a different "way of seeing" these individual pieces of art.
A rotating show of about 600 pieces is on view at all times. The collection features just about every well-known 20th-century artist and touches on most of the major trends in Western art since the late 19th century, with particular emphasis on our contemporary period. Among the best-known pieces are Rodin's Monument to the Burghers of Calais (in the Sculpture Garden), Hopper's First Row Orchestra, de Kooning's Two Women in the Country, and Warhol's Marilyn Monroe's Lips.
Pick up a free calendar when you enter to find out about free films, lectures, concerts, and temporary exhibits. Free tours of the collection are given daily, and of the Sculpture Garden, weather permitting, in summer; call for information about them.
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without
notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before
planning your trip.
