Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Museum

Address: 1050 Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC

Website: https://asia.si.edu/locations/sackler-gallery/

Hours: Tue-Sun 10:00am-5:30pm, closed Monday

Admission: Free

The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery is a Smithsonian museum in Washington, D.C. dedicated to Asian art and part of the National Museum of Asian Art alongside the Freer Gallery. It houses collections and temporary exhibitions covering a wide geographic range of Asian cultures.

Exhibition rooms present works from South, Southeast and East Asia as well as Islamic art, with galleries that rotate temporary shows alongside selected works from the permanent collection. The gallery is used for thematic exhibitions, loans and scholarly displays and is often visited together with the Freer.

Established in the late 20th century as a Smithsonian gallery for Asian art, the Sackler was endowed and named after Arthur M. Sackler; it has since functioned as the modern exhibition wing complementing the Freer’s historic holdings. The two institutions operate jointly under the National Museum of Asian Art.

Situated on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the gallery faces the central Mall and is within walking distance of other Smithsonian museums and the Washington Monument.

• Museum complex: Part of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art complex on the National Mall and physically linked with the Freer Gallery, allowing combined visits.

What to See#

• Main galleries: Galleries devoted to South, Southeast, South Asian, East Asian and Islamic collections, laid out across multiple exhibition rooms connected to the Freer Gallery as part of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art.

The Sackler Gallery is on the National Mall at 1050 Independence Ave SW, adjacent to the Freer Gallery. Use Smithsonian Metro station (Blue/Orange/Silver lines) or Metro Center and a short walk; many bus routes and plentiful pedestrian routes across the Mall make it accessible from downtown D.C.

• Combine a visit with the Freer Gallery of Art next door - they share curatorial resources and the Sackler's galleries complement the Freer's collection.
• Check for special talks and performances; the museums host frequent scholar lectures that illuminate works in the galleries.
• Enter through the Mall side of the complex to see the modernist Sackler architecture set against the leafy Smithsonian gardens.