Among American art museums, there are haves and have-nots, with big-city, legacy galleries owning boatloads of great art — much of it in storage — and smaller, newer places in the provinces making do with nary a Renoir, Rothko, or Rembrandt. The National Gallery of Art in Washington is aiming for a fairer balance. Its new initiative, Across the Nation, sends some of its treasures to ten museums, from Anchorage, Alaska, to Charlotte, N.C., as part of its 2026 United States Semiquincentennial celebration.
The NGA’s initiative isn’t perfect, but it’s a show of good citizenship and one more step in what should be a cause and a movement. Big, rich museums, nearly all along the Acela Corridor, should be sharing their marquee treasures. These institutions are on endowment income and massively subsidized by taxpayers across the country through federal tax exemptions on gifts of art and money. The National Gallery has taken a stand.
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