Art Museum Scavenger Hunt Washington DC

How it works

Leonardo's only painting in the Americas, a typewriter eraser taller than you and a map of the country built from 336 TVs: this art museum scavenger hunt holds 48 finds in Washington, DC, none behind a ticket.

Read the full guide

Two buildings, a garden, one walk north

NGA West Building and NGA East Building face each other across 4th Street and join underground. NGA Sculpture Garden lies just west. The American Art Museum is a short walk north, between F and G Streets. Set the area in the menu, then press Print this list.

When a work is away

Paintings travel and rooms get rehung. A find marked *if it is on view* still scores when the team writes what hangs in its place.

Tips

Do the Sculpture Garden while it is light and save the galleries for rain or the last hour.

Questions and answers

Is the National Gallery of Art free?

Yes. Both buildings and the Sculpture Garden charge no admission, and so does the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The Gallery opens daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closes on December 25 and January 1.

Can kids do an art hunt in DC museums?

Yes, with an adult in every team. The spider, the giant eraser, the TV map and the tunnel of lights suit children best. Walk, whisper and stay an arm's length from every work.

Where should the hunt start?

In the West Building rotunda, at the center of the building's long H plan. The East Building follows through the underground concourse, then the garden and the American Art Museum on foot.

All 48 finds

NGA West Building 12

A boy in the sea with a shark close by John Singleton Copley's Watson and the Shark shows a 1749 attack in Havana Harbor. If it is on view, count the people in the boat.
A domed rotunda copied from Rome The West Building's rotunda is modeled on the inside of the Pantheon. Count the columns that ring it.
A garden court full of plants Bright garden courts sit off the main halls. Write the name of one plant you can see.
A long skylit hall of statues Two sculpture halls run east and west from the rotunda. Count the statues in one.
A painting by Johannes Vermeer Vermeer is among the Dutch painters in the West Building. If one is on view, write what the person in it holds.
A painting by Vincent van Gogh Write the brightest color in it.
A round painting of the three kings The Adoration of the Magi by Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi is a tondo, a round picture. If it is on view, count the horses.

Show all 48 finds (41 more)

NGA West Building, continued

A sculpture by Edgar Degas The collection holds work by Degas and by Auguste Rodin. If a Degas figure is on view, copy its pose for your team.
A series of paintings that follow one life The gallery holds the second of two original sets of Thomas Cole's The Voyage of Life. If it is on view, write how many pictures the set has.
Leonardo's portrait of Ginevra de' Benci The only Leonardo painting on public view in the Americas, painted in Florence between 1474 and 1478. If it is on view, write one word for her face.
Pink marble from Tennessee John Russell Pope faced the West Building in pink Tennessee marble; it opened in 1941. Write the shade it looks today.
The very middle of the rotunda floor Write what stands there and what it is doing.

NGA East Building 12

A face by Pablo Picasso seen from two sides at once If one is on view, count the eyes.
A museum built from triangles I. M. Pei split the site into two triangles, and the shape repeats through the building. Count the triangles you see from the atrium floor.
A painting by Roy Lichtenstein Step close and write how the color is made.
A painting made by dripping paint Jackson Pollock is in the East Building collection. If one of his is on view, write three colors in it.
A tunnel of moving lights between the buildings About 41,000 LED lights run along the 200-foot concourse under 4th Street. Write two colors you see.
A work by Andy Warhol Write what it shows.
A work by Henri Matisse Write the shape that repeats most in it.
The building's narrowest outside corner Sketch its shape from the sidewalk. Look, do not touch.
The largest mobile Alexander Calder made It hangs in the East Building atrium. Watch it for a minute and write whether it moved.
Robert Motherwell's mural from 1977 If it is on view, write its main color.
The same pink marble as the West Building The East Building, opened in 1978, uses the same Tennessee marble. Say which building looks pinker.
The West Building seen from the East Building doors The two buildings share one axis. Count the columns you can see across 4th Street.

NGA Sculpture Garden 12

A David Smith sculpture called Cubi The garden lists Cubi XI, from 1963, and Cubi XXVI, from 1965. Count the boxes in the one you found.
A giant spider on tiptoe Louise Bourgeois's Spider stands in the garden. Count its legs from the path.
A group of standing figures called Puellae Magdalena Abakanowicz made them in 1992; puellae is Latin for girls. Count the figures.
A house that seems to turn as you walk Roy Lichtenstein's House I plays a trick: walk steadily along the curved sidewalk in front of it. Write which way it seemed to spin.
A pyramid by Sol LeWitt Four-Sided Pyramid dates from 1965. Sketch its outline from one side.
A sculpture by Joan Miró with a bird in its name It dates from 1974 to 1977, and its French title holds oiseau, the word for bird. Write one thing it looks like to you.
A sculpture called Thinker on a Rock Barry Flanagan made it in 1997. Write what animal is doing the thinking.
A typewriter eraser taller than you Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen made it in 1999. Write what the round part is for.
Alexander Calder's red horse It is called Cheval Rouge, French for red horse. Find the horse's head and sketch it.
An entrance to the Paris subway Hector Guimard designed it for the Paris Métro. Copy the word on its sign.
Robert Indiana's AMOR Write its four letters in the order you read them.
The round pool in the middle of the garden From December to March it turns into an ice-skating rink. Write whether you found water or ice.

American Art Museum 12

A curving double staircase It was restored in the 2000 to 2006 renovation. Count the steps you climb on one side.
A glass roof waving over a courtyard The canopy over the Kogod Courtyard rests on eight steel columns. Count them from the courtyard floor.
A map of the United States built from TVs Nam June Paik's Electronic Superhighway uses 336 television sets and neon tubing. If it is on view, write what your home state's screen shows.
A painting of Western mountains or canyons Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran are both in the collection. Copy the place name from a label.
A portico copied from the Parthenon The Old Patent Office Building was built from 1836 to 1867 in the Greek Revival style. Count the columns across its front.
A portrait of a U.S. president who died before 1900 The National Portrait Gallery shares the building. Write the president and the artist.
A skylight as long as a city block Walk under it and write what you can see through the glass.
A throne of foil made by a janitor James Hampton built The Throne of the Third Heaven from foil, old furniture and cardboard: 180 objects. Copy the two words at the top of the throne.
A work made under the New Deal The museum holds the largest collection of New Deal art in the world. Copy the year from one label.
Art stored in rows of glass cases The Luce Foundation Center on the third and fourth floors shows more than 3,300 objects in 64 cases. Write the oddest thing you found.
Conservators at work behind glass The Lunder Conservation Center has floor-to-ceiling glass walls. If someone is working, write what they are fixing.
Thin sheets of water across the courtyard floor Four floor-level water scrims run through the courtyard. Write whether the water is on or off; keep feet dry.

How this list was compiled: Written for this page in September 2026: 48 finds in four free art museums in Washington, DC: the National Gallery of Art's West Building, East Building and Sculpture Garden on the National Mall, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in the Old Patent Office Building, sorted by area, with nothing bought and no ticket. Nothing was copied from another list. Works on loan or rotation are worded 'if it is on view'. Levels are our judgment. Names, dates, counts and places in the notes were checked on 2026-09-24 against English Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ followed by National_Gallery_of_Art, National_Gallery_of_Art_Sculpture_Garden, Ginevra_de%27_Benci, Watson_and_the_Shark, Spider_(Bourgeois), Typewriter_Eraser,_Scale_X, House_I, Smithsonian_American_Art_Museum, Old_Patent_Office_Building, Smithsonian_Institution, Electronic_Superhighway:_Continental_U.S.,_Alaska,_Hawaii and James_Hampton_(artist). Licence: own work