Freer Gallery of Art - Definition and Overview

The Freer Gallery of Art is the Smithsonian Institution's museum of east Asian art, including art from China, Japan, Korea, and southeast Asia. It is located on the south side of The National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Visitor favorites include Chinese paintings, Japanese folding screens, Korean ceramics, Indian and Persian manuscripts (http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online/loveyearning/default.htm), and Buddhist sculpture. A highlight of the Whistler (http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online/whistler/whistlerdefault.htm) holdings is the Peacock Room (http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/current/peacock.htm), a dining room that was once part of a London townhouse. In 1876, Whistler lavishly decorated the room with a blue and gold peacock design. After the owner's death, the room was brought to the United States and permanently installed in the Freer Gallery (http://www.asia.si.edu/).

The gallery was founded by Charles Lang Freer (1854–1919), a railroad-car manufacturer from Detroit who gave to the United States his collections and funds for a building to house them. The Italian-Renaissance-style gallery, constructed in granite and marble, was designed by American architect Charles Platt. When the gallery opened to the public in 1923, it was the first Smithsonian museum for fine arts. In subsequent years, the collections (http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/default.htm) have grown through gifts and purchases to nearly triple the size of Freer's bequest.

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