The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington’s oldest and largest private art museum, is recognized nationally and internationally for its outstanding collection of American art. Its founder, William Wilson Corcoran, was among the first American collectors to seriously appreciate contemporary art of this country, at a time when most of his peers favored European works. His important collection of mainly American paintings and sculpture formed the nucleus of the art museum he founded in 1869.

Over its 130-year history the Corcoran’s collection of American art has grown dramatically through purchases and generous gifts. Today, the Corcoran’s holdings total over fourteen thousand objects, at the core of which is a world-renowned collection of nineteenth-century American paintings, sculpture, prints, and drawings; American art of the eighteenth century is also well represented. The Corcoran continues to build its contemporary collection, notably through purchases made from the Biennial exhibitions of contemporary art, begun in 1907. As a result, the museum also has a highly regarded collection of twentieth-century painting, sculpture, photography, and media arts.