National gallery is a nationally owned gallery that houses many of the finest art collections in a country. Some national galleries, such as those of Austria, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United States, contain many works by national painters. Most European national galleries were founded between 1780 and 1870. The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., was founded in 1937. It opened in 1941. It has collections of art from the 1100’s to the present. The National Gallery of Canada, in Ottawa, was founded in 1880. It contains the most important collection of Canadian art in Canada as well as major collections of European, American, and Asian art.
Italy has no single national gallery, but such galleries as the Uffizi in Florence, the Accademia in Venice, and the Brera in Milan contain many fine paintings, mostly by Italians. The Louvre in Paris is celebrated for exhibiting many of the world’s most famous art treasures. The United Kingdom and Germany have separate national institutions for international and national paintings. The National Gallery in Berlin has many fine works by early Dutch painters and French painters of the 1700’s. The National Gallery in London is noted for its coverage of international schools throughout the centuries.
