National Gallery of Art DC

National Gallery of Art

About this app

Become your own guide with this ultimate companion to your museum visit. An interactive map pinpoints your location and brings you the fascinating stories behind the masterpieces you see before you. With more than 130 audio stops and 1,000 object descriptions written by National Gallery of Art curators, you’ll discover the only Leonardo da Vinci painting in the Americas, the largest and last of Alexander Calder’s famous mobiles, and thousands of works in between.

• Pinpoint your location on an interactive map to navigate the West Building, East Building, and Sculpture Garden
• Locate hundreds of artworks in the galleries
• Listen to audio from Gallery curators or read expanded information about artworks
• Find museum stores, restrooms, elevators, restaurants, and other amenities

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About the National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art is a national art museum in Washington, DC, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets along Constitution Avenue NW. The Gallery’s collection of paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculpture, and decorative arts traces the development of Western art from the Middle Ages to the present. The National Gallery of Art preserves, collects, exhibits, and fosters understanding of works of art at the highest possible museum and scholarly standards. Entry to the permanent collection, exhibitions, and programs is always free of charge.
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*GPS usage: Continued use of the GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life. This app is optimized to conserve as much battery as possible.

Ratings and reviews

Had a fairly rough experience attempting to use the app. The locate feature did not work for me, neither when using mobile or wifi, NOR with bluetooth on. Qr code support please! It would also help if the points of interest in the app would follow the order in which they are physically presented in the room. The Android app also does not support the use of TalkBack screen reader, nor does it have text descriptions for the audio. Shouldnt apps like this be accessible to blind and deaf users?

I sent feedback to the dev. This app does not have a search feature or navigation. We needed 2 phones with the same app installed to plan a route. The Rijksmuseum app is a better example of museum interaction with users who are not already well-versed in the subject matter. Also, wall openings did not appear in the correct locations. Or, perhaps it was confusion due to lack of orientation. Not useful to me.

When connected to the National Gallery WiFi, the app was able to locate me (more or less) within the museum. Not as many paintings and sculptures had audio information as I would have liked, although most had at least a written description. Although when looking at a object, I don't want to shift my focus to something that isn't that object, which is why I prefer audio. The information is very detailed, but perhaps a bit too technical. I prefer more context re: the artist and the times.

What's new

Targeting Android SDK 33