Building a National Collection in a Changing Nation

Kaywin Feldman ( Director, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.) leads an institution of intriguing paradox. The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. was founded in 1941 by millionaire Andrew Mellon to educate a monolithic populace and to bestow contemporary ideas of good taste. Mellon’s offering was in fact a grand populist gesture, a true gift that continues to benefit his nation to this day.

Yet as societies shift and change, what is the unique but ever-evolving role of a national art museum as it navigates the challenges and opportunities of a dynamic and expanding global audience? What does it mean to be and to become a nation’s art museum during a time of immense global volatility and complexity?

The Dr. Coleman Mopper Memorial Lecture was established in 1997 in memory of Dr. Coleman Mopper, a longstanding member and patron of the DIA and a founder of the Visiting Committee for European Sculpture and Decorative Arts auxiliary group. In Dr. Mopper’s memory, friends generously endowed an annual lecture on European art to be given by an internationally recognized specialist.

Appointed in 2019, Kaywin Feldman is the National Gallery’s fifth director and the first woman to lead the museum. Her vision for the National Gallery focuses on expanding the museum’s service to the nation. Dedicated to connecting people to art through the power of wonder, Feldman has initiated new programs and exhibitions, expanded the National Gallery’s audience, and increased the national collection through acquisitions that reflect a wider spectrum of art history.