Beginning in the 1920s, financier and art collector Andrew W. Mellon began gathering a collection of old master paintings and sculptures with the intent of providing the country with a national art gallery.
Following his death in 1937, Congress in a joint resolution accepted Mellon’s collection and building funds (provided through the A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust), and approved the construction of a museum on the National Mall.
Designed by architect John Russell Pope (who would go on to design the Jefferson Memorial), the new structure was completed and accepted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on behalf of the American people on March 17, 1941. At the time of its inception it was the largest marble structure in the world.
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