On March 17, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt officially dedicated the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The museum was established through the massive bequest of industrialist Andrew Mellon, who donated his world-class art collection, the funds for the building's construction, and a significant endowment. The opening marked a milestone in American cultural history, providing the public with access to a premier national collection of Old Master paintings.
Behind the museum's prestigious founding lies a complex history of secret acquisitions from the Soviet Union. During the early 1930s, the Soviet government sold off masterpieces from the State Hermitage Museum to fund Stalin’s industrialization plans. Mellon’s purchase of 21 high-profile works—including masterpieces by Raphael and Rembrandt—highlights the intersection of global politics, economic desperation, and the formation of major Western institutional collections through the displacement of cultural heritage.