The Smithsonian American Art Museum, the nation's first collection of American art, captures the aspirations, character and imagination of the nation's people from the Colonial period to today. The museum is a center for the study, enjoyment and preservation of the country's rich artistic and cultural heritage.

Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard

The light-filled courtyard with its wavy glass canopy is a downtown oasis that features interior landscaping, a cafe and free Wi-Fi access.

Lunder Conservation Center

The two museums share the conservation center, located on the third and fourth-floor mezzanines. The center offers a unique, behind-the-scenes view through floor-to-ceiling glass walls of the techniques American Art and Portrait Gallery conservators use to examine, treat and preserve paintings, prints, drawings, photographs and other works of art. Ask at the information desks about weekly behind-the-scenes tours and other special programs.

Luce Foundation Center for American Art

The Luce Foundation Center is the first visible art storage and study center in the city, displaying more than 3,300 of the museum's paintings, sculptures, craft and folk art objects. A selection of audio tours guides visitors, daily until 6 p.m., through the collections. Use your cell phone or borrow a free MP3 player from the museum to access the tours. Free Wi-Fi is also available.

First Floor

Paintings by Edward Hopper entice visitors to the "American Experience" introductory galleries near the lobby. These galleries, filled with 19th-century paintings and modern sculpture, explore the defining role of land in the American imagination, and include more than 50 images selected from photographer Lee Friedlander's series The American Monument (1963-2001), an invaluable exploration and commemoration of the nation's public sculpture.

In the adjoining "Folk Art" galleries, is James Hampton's The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly, a visionary and intensely religious work made from salvaged furniture and other found items.

Second Floor

"American Art Through 1940" links artworks, such as Frederic Auguste Bartholdi's model for the Statue of Liberty and John Singer Sargent's Gilded Age portraits, to American historical periods, dating from the founding of the Colonies to the New Deal era.

Monumental paintings of Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon by Thomas Moran (1837-1926), which inspired Congress to create the country's first national park at Yellowstone in 1872, are not to be missed.

Third Floor

Modern and contemporary artworks are located on the top floor. Visit the "Lincoln Gallery," where several powerful works are installed, including Jenny Holzer's stunning column of light and text titled For SAAM. See also David Hockney's Snails Space With Vari-Lites, "Painting as Performance" and Nam June Paik's Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii.

Special Exhibitions

"Graphic Masters III: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum" (closes Aug. 8). Rarely seen works from the museum's permanent collection by artists such as Robert Arneson, Jennifer Bartlett, Philip Guston, and Wayne Thiebaud.

"Framing the West: The Survey Photographs of Timothy H. O. Sullivan" (Feb. 12 to May 9). Timothy H. O'Sullivan (1840-1882) served as photographer for two of the most ambitious geological surveys of the 19th century. This critical reevaluation features 80 of O'Sullivan's photographs.

"Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Remembering the Running Fence, Sonoma and Marin Counties, California, 1972-76, A Documentation Exhibition" (opens April 2). The Running Fence was a white fabric and steel-pole work of art that extended for 24.5 miles across the properties of 59 ranchers for two weeks in September 1976.Learn the story of how two artists, over nearly insurmountable odds, created this temporary artwork of joy and beauty and reexperience the excitement that lives on in the memories of the people who saw it.

"Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg" (opens July 2). The first major exhibition to explore the connections between Norman Rockwell's iconic images of American life and the movies. Two of America's best-known modern filmmakers recognized a kindred spirit in Rockwell and formed in-depth collections of his work.

Fun for students: goSmithsonian.com/SIConnections

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