The best museums Côte Est Etats-Unis

It is undoubtedly the most popular museum in Washington, both for children and their parents! Throughout the two vast floors of this museum, you will discover the history of aviation and the conquest of space. The staging is spectacular between reconstructions, explanations and animations. We can see aerodynamic aircraft, the ancestors of modern aircraft, such as Lindbergh's Spirit of Saint-Louis, or a vast panorama of aviation pioneers by country. But it is of course the conquest of space that holds a vast place here. We will be able to see a reconstruction of the Apollo 11 shuttle and even enter a Skylab orbital station to see the astronauts' way of life. For space lovers, know that a real piece of the Moon is on display and that you can touch this precious mineral. To travel without moving from Earth, then. Finally, for the bravest or most adventurous - and with a financial supplement - you should know that flight simulators are available. IMAX sessions are also presented.

A major renovation project of the National Air and Space Museum was launched in 2018, with a view to reorganizing and modernizing it. If the museum is expected to remain open for the estimated seven-year construction period, the galleries and exhibition spaces will be closed in turn. Check out the website before your visit to follow the progress of the project. While waiting for the work to be completed, some objects were moved to the museum's annex, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.

Here is not only the history of the United States, but above all the history of the world that will be told you! Dinosaur skeletons, number (247) of specimens from Africa, North and South America, and Australia, but also human-centred exhibits such as those on Sikhs, which simultaneously present textiles and jewellery from northern India and northern Pakistan from the th century to the present, diamonds and stone stones: it is the history of the world you will discover. There is a very popular IMAX cinema. Movie lovers will easily recognize the place since it was here that the film La Nuit à la Musée 2 (Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian) with Ben Stiller.

The museum is huge, separated into two wings connected by a mechanical conveyor belt. There is so much to see that you could easily spend several days there, especially since a coffee shop (Cascade Café) offers a very good selection of sandwiches and drinks. At the entrance to the museum, maps in French are available - use them, you will need them to find your way around! Please note that guided tours of the museum are offered in French on a fairly regular basis (see the website), and they are free of charge.

Here is a selection of things to see, as exhaustive as possible.

West Building

Opened in 1941, it was the largest marble building in the world at the time. Today, European works of art from the 13th to the 19th century can be found there.

Italian art from the 13th century to the 15th century. Galleries 1 to 15, mainly religious works. To see: The Nativity with the Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel (1308-1311), by Ducco di Buoninsegna. This painting depicting the birth of Jesus was part of a gigantic work that was unveiled in the streets of Siena in 1311, before being installed in the city's Gothic cathedral. In the same gallery, a second painting, The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew, is from the same work. Don't miss also the two bronze sculptures by Michel Anguier, representing Neptune and Ceres, as well as several models of Edgar Degas' La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans.

16th century Italian and Spanish art. Galleries 16 to 28. Several versions of Scenes from a Legend (1515-1520), by Florentine Giovanni Larciani, known for his oil paintings of bucolic landscapes, can be admired. Also worth mentioning is Laocoön (1610-1614) by Domenikos Theotokopoulos, an oil painting representing the mythological figure Laocoön, whose history became the centre of countless works after a marble sculpture representing him was found in Rome in 1506 (it is now on display in the Vatican). Finally, The Alba Madonna (1511), a religious painting by Raphael depicting Mary holding the child Jesus in her arms.

Dutch and German art from the 15th and 16th centuries. Galleries 35, 35A, 38 to 41A. Room 35A: 2 works of woodcarving, A Bishop Saint by Tilman Riemenschneider (1515-1520) and The Holy Kinship (1480-1490, unknown), incredibly rich in detail. Room 38: Portrait of a Lady (1460), by Rogier Van Der Weyden. Room 39: The Annunciation (1434-1436), by Jan Van Eyck.

17th century Dutch and Flemish art. Galleries 42 to 51. Of particular note are Rembrandt's paintings (1606-1669), which are grouped in room 48: Man in Oriental Costume (1635), An Old Lady with a Book (1637), The Mill (1645-1648), The Descent from the Cross (1650-1652), The Apostle Paul (1657), Philemon and Baucis (1658) and also A Young Man Seated at a Table (1660). Whether you like baroque painting or not, the effect is striking. Some of Rembrandt's self-portraits (he has done more than a hundred!) are sometimes displayed in this room.

Spanish art of the 18th and 19th centuries. Gallery 52. Some portraits by the Spanish painter Francisco de Goya, including Young Lady Wearing a Mantilla and Basquina (1800-1805) and María Teresa de Borbón y Vallabriga (1783), one of four portraits of this young Spanish aristocrat, cousin of Charles IV of Spain, taken by the painter.

French art of the 18th and early 19th centuries. Galleries 53 to 56. We will admire the four paintings by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, La Balançoire (1775-1780), Diane and Endymion (1753-1756), Un Jeu de cheval et le Cavalier (1775-1780), Le Colin Maillard (1775-1780). These works are distinguished by their rococo style and the frivolous moments they capture, featuring richly dressed young people having fun in an idealized natural setting. Also in this room are Claude Joseph Vernet's Le Naufrage (1772), and one of the most famous portraits of Napoleon I, L'Empereur Napoléon in his study at the Tuileries (1812), by Jacques-Louis David. She represents Napoleon I in uniform wearing the Legion of Honour.

English art. Galleries 57, 58, 59 and 61. Don't miss Gainsborough's portraits, including The Hon. Mrs. Thomas Graham (1775-77). A fashionable portrait painter during his lifetime, he received many royal commissions and made portraits of King George III and his wife Charlotte. Gainsborough was also one of the most famous landscape architects of his time. One of its landscapes, Seashore with Fishermen (1781-1782), can be admired here. Some other landscapes by British artists, such as Moonlight on the Yare (1816-1817),directed by John Crome, are also worth seeing.

American art. Galleries 60, 60A, 60B, 62 to 71. These galleries feature portraits by Gilbert Stuart, well known in the United States for his unfinished portrait of George Washington, on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. In Room 60B, his portraits of prominent American politicians can be admired, including Richard Yates (1793-1794), James Monroe (1817), Thomas Jefferson (1821), James Madison (1821) and the completed portrait of George Washington (1821). We will not fail to discover room 63, where George Catlin's paintings are gathered. He painted many portraits of Indians, including The Female Eagle - Shawano (1830), Boy Chief - Ojibbeway (1843) and The White Cloud, Head Chief of the Iowas (1844-1845). Catlin was the first white man to represent the Indians on their territory and in their traditional dress. Also to be seen in room 66, the portrait of George Peter Alexander Healy depicting Abraham Lincoln at the request of King Louis-Philippe of France, this is one of the last portraits of Lincoln without his famous beard.

French art of the 19th century. Galleries 80 to 85 and 91 to 93. In room 80 are grouped together many works by the impressionist artist Claude Monet, including two paintings from the series of Rouen Cathedrals (1894), as well as La Seine à Giverny (1897), which is one of a series of 9 paintings painted the same year and one (Bras de Seine in Giverny) is on display at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. The self-portraits of Gauguin (1889) and Van Gogh (1889) are on display in room 83. To admire Gustave Courbet's landscapes, you will have to go to room 92, where two of his works are located: La Plage à Trouville and Mer calme (1865-1866).

East Building

Opened in 1978, this building was designed to display the permanent collection of modern art and special exhibitions.

On the ground floor: Impressionism, postimpressionism and realism. Some of the works we have loved: L'Atelier d'artiste (1900), by Pierre Bonnard; Nature morte (1905) by Henri Matisse; New York (1911), by George Bellows, Ground Swell (1939), by Edward Hopper. In the atrium, some iron and bronze works, such as Max Ernst's monumental sculpture Capricorn.

Upstairs (upper level) and mezzanine: many works by Picasso including La Tragédie (1903), Le Gourmet (1901), La Femme à (1905). Then, Head of a Catalan Peasant (1924), by Joan Miro; Painting No. IV, by Piet Mondrian; The Look of Amber, by Yves Tanguy; some Andy Warhol with Green Marilyn (1962), Mao (1973) and A Boy for Meg (1962).

Above (tower): works of modern art, mainly the motives of the American artist Alexander Calder, including Rearing Stallion (1928) and Little Spider (1940) to name but a few.

This museum features a series of portraits and busts of those who have influenced the history and culture of the United States: poets, presidents, visionaries, actors, Indian chiefs, scientists and athletes... (Elvis Presley, G.W. Bush, Lafayette, Hillary Clinton, André Agassi...). In 2018, the portraits of Barack Obama (^2nd floor) and his wife Michelle Obama (^1st floor) were added to the collection. They were produced by two African-American artists, Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald respectively. Contemporary, modern and innovative in style, the two portraits are very much in line with the former presidential couple. Since they were unveiled, the museum has welcomed more than a million more visitors in one year, proof that the Obama's popularity has not waned since they left the White House.

^1st floor: American Origins exhibition (1600-1900). Do not miss the portrait of Pocahontas, the belt of Quaker William Penn and the photo of Gordon, a slave of Baton Rouge, whose back is bruised by his master's blows. Also temporary exhibitions.

^2nd floor: the exciting America's Presidents exhibition. Not to be missed: the painting of President George Washington, bought by the museum for more than US$20 million (thanks to the generous donation - about US$35 million - of patron Donald W. Reynolds, who gave his name to the brand new museum), an original portrait of Bill Clinton by Elaine de Kooning and two plaster masks moulded from Abraham Lincoln's face. Also, temporary exhibitions.

^3rd floor: Bravo exhibition! which shows portraits of celebrities from the 19th century to the present day. We meet Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley. And the Champions exhibition, where boxers, swimmers, golfers and other sportsmen and women who have made history through their achievements are represented.