At the National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian American Art Museum

You get two museums in one here. All in the same building. Actually two buildings joined together.

The National Portrait Gallery:

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery tells the history of America through individuals who have shaped its culture. Through the visual arts, performing arts and new media, the Portrait Gallery portrays poets and presidents, visionaries and villains, actors and activists whose lives tell the American story.

The American Art Museum:

The Smithsonian American Art Museum, the nation's first collection of American art, is an unparalleled record of the American experience. The collection captures the aspirations, character, and imagination of the American people throughout three centuries. The museum is the home to one of the largest and most inclusive collections of American art in the world. Its artworks reveal key aspects of America's rich artistic and cultural history from the colonial period to today.

And you have to make sure you see the Kogod Courtyard which helps join the two buildings. It is just a fantastic place.

Here are a few pictures from the two museums.