Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC

One of the best things to do on a hot muggy summer day is to visit a nice cool museum. This one is cool both literally and figuratively.

I hopped on the metro's yellow line and got off at L'Enfant Plaza (Maryland Avenue exit). Turned left out of the station, crossed the street and walked a block to the Mall and the Hirshhorn Art Museum is right on the corner. Could not have been any easier.

Walking up to the building is a rather thrilling experience - kudos to the architect, Gordon Bunshaft! It feels like you're walking under a spaceship hunched on a launchpad, but so very open and airy with a fountain in the middle and cafe seating on the sides. I would have to rate this space as one of the best in Washington, D.C.

The building is surrounded on all sides by a sculpture garden which includes works by Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore, and Joan Miro to name a few.

The Hirshhorn is the Smithsonian's museum of international modern and contemporary art. The collection contains 12,000 works of art, including pieces from the late 19th century to the present day. Art by Henry Moore, Auguste Rodin, Pablo Picasso, Alexander Calder, Ellsworth Kelly, Willem deKooning, Joan Miro, and others.

Opened in 1974 as a result of the generosity of American entrepreneur and philanthropist Joseph H. Hirshhorn (1899-1981), who donated his collection to the Smithsonian Institution in 1966. I wonder if we would have the opportunity to view beautiful works of art in beautiful buildings if there were no successful entrepreneurs in this country?

The following are photos I took on my visit to the museum. It is only a small portion of what is on display, and I take pictures of what I like. There are a lot of works I do not appreciate. For me, personally I don't like pieces of art that obviously didn't take much effort. There has to be some skill involved to be appreciated.

The museum features three levels of gallery space. The lower level has restrooms with changing stations, an auditorium, and water fountains, The information desk and museum shop are on the street level.

There are gallery talks on Fridays and guided tours Monday through Thursday, 12:30pm; Friday, 3:30pm.

Creative activities for teens can be found here at ArtLab+ http://artlabplus.si.edu/

Fun stuff for teens every Friday through the summer - ArtLab+ Drop Zone http://artlabplus.si.edu/artlabplus/2011/06/introducing-artlab-dropzone.html