DMV Lesbian Art Lovers

Mary Cassatt is one of America's greatest female painters, and she painted women in a time of turbulent change. Sometimes, a painting of a mother with a child is also a painting of a suffragette! Join us at the National Gallery to take a deeper look at 40 of Cassatt's works, including some rarely shown. The East Building's library also features a display of photos, letters, and other artifacts from the artist's life and work. After the art, we'll meet in the cafeteria for gelato and socializing.

MEET AT: Just outside the National Gallery's West Building main entrance (facing the National Mall). The West Building is the one with the big columns and stairs out front. Look for Molly with the rainbow LAL sign.
NEAREST METRO STOPS: Smithsonian and Archives/Navy Memorial
COST: FREE

THE ART: Mary Cassatt’s art and life reflect an independent spirit that defied expectations for women in her time. Explore three galleries in the National Gallery’s impressionist collection to look closely at how she worked. Some 40 paintings, drawings, and prints—largely drawn from our rich holdings of her work—show an artist shaped by tradition yet radically modern.

MEET AT: Just outside the main entrance to the Hirshhorn, inside the circular "donut." Look for Molly with the rainbow LAL sign.
COST: Free
NEAREST METRO: L'Enfant Plaza or Smithsonian

Did you know there are over 13,000 works of art in the Hirshhorn collection?! This exhibition collects the best of the museum's best all in one place. To inaugurate its 50th-anniversary season, the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum presents Revolutions: Art from the Hirshhorn Collection, 1860–1960, a major survey of artwork made during a transformative period characterized by new currents in science and philosophy and ever-increasing mechanization. The list of included artists is truly jaw-dropping -- everyone from Berenice Abbott to Picasso to Cy Twombly to Edward Hopper.

The exhibition includes contemporary work by 19 artists, such as Torkwase Dyson, Annette Lemieux, Genesis Tramane, Dyani White Hawk, and Flora Yukhnovich, whose practices demonstrate how many revolutionary ideas and approaches arising during these 100 years remain critical today. Revolutions takes a primarily chronological approach to historical movements, pausing occasionally to introduce contemporary works that serve as throughlines.

After we see the art, we'll grab some coffee or gelato in the lobby, time permitting.