United States
National Gallery of Art East Building
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Welcome to Washington, D.C.! The National Gallery of Art's East Building is a bold, modern museum made almost entirely of sharp triangle shapes, with a knife-thin stone corner you could almost touch.
Why is it famous?
Architect I. M. Pei had to fit the building onto an oddly shaped, trapezoid piece of land, so he designed it around two giant triangles.
One corner of the building is so sharp and thin that visitors love to reach out and touch it.
A cathedral of art
Inside, a massive glass-roofed atrium the size of a football field's end zone floods the museum with natural light.
A giant mobile sculpture by artist Alexander Calder hangs from the triangular glass ceiling, slowly turning above visitors' heads.
Amazing facts
It opened in 1978 and is built from the same pink-tinted marble as the older, classical West Building next door.
A glowing underground walkway connecting the two buildings uses about 41,000 twinkling LED lights.
Quick facts
- It opened in 1978 and is built from the same pink-tinted marble as the older, classical West Building next door.
- A glowing underground walkway connecting the two buildings uses about 41,000 twinkling LED lights.
- It houses modern art by famous artists like Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol.
- I. M. Pei designed this building around the same time he was also designing the Louvre Pyramid in Paris.