Hirshhorn Museum — Attraction in Washington

INFINITY MIRRORS at the Hirshhorn Museum

Time: Woke up at 6:30am got to DC by 7am (no traffic)

Parking: I parked on Jefferson Drive in front of the air and space museum for free (the sign said it was three hours but no meters and I was there for about 5 hours no ticket) It's half a block over from the hirshhorn.

Line: website said line starts at 9:30 doors open at 10. I got in line at 8:40 and was around the 40th person there so people had already been lining up. The first person there said they got there at 8am (I was at Starbucks across the street waiting until about 9 to head over had I known we could come earlier I would've just came straight there). There was a trailer about 100 could fit in if you stand tightly together in line. They let 10-15 people in at a time to get tickets, you tell them what time you want. I was the 5th group of people to go in and got my tickets a little after 10:30

Tickets: each person can get up 4 tickets. There are 400 same day tickets avail first come first serve (not including online tickets). These are timed tickets with 15 minute increments starting at 10 til 4 museum closes at 5 no tickets during the 12:00 hour. All tickets are free/the museum is free. Tickets were sold out in less than an hour

Rules: no flash photography. No bags or backpacks, small purses are ok. No food or drink. Complimentary lockers are avail (highly suggest putting your coats there)

Exhibit: the whole 2nd floor is dedicated to the exhibit. There are 5 rooms you walk in and 2 rooms you can only look in. The wait to enter each room is anywhere from a 5-20 min. Groups of 2-4 are allowed in at a time in each room for 20-30 seconds (yes I know that sounds like not enough time, it does go by fast but you can go back in by standing in the back of the line). I had enough time to do a panoramic of each room and a few pics/selfies. We finished in under two hours.

Advice: do not come in large groups bc you can only go in 2-4 at a time in a room. If you are driving get there early to find parking. If you are standing in line for same day tickets come no later than 8:30am and bring a book, music, snack, something to keep you occupied. This might not be the best exhibit for kids (they're going to want to touch everything) or people in wheelchairs (small space). Use he bathroom before the exhibit because it's hard to get back in. Try to get tickets for the 11:00 hour because there are no tickets avail during the 12:00 hour so the lines die down there's less people so less waiting. Even though it's a straight line through the exhibit you can bounce around and revisit each room. Go to the 4th room first and work your way back to the first. the 5th room is the point of no return/exit.

You can stay for as long as you want and check the rest of the museum out, there's a gift shop and cafe too.

Online tickets are avail every Monday for the following week but they are impossible to get.

The exhibit is open until 5/14/17. The museum is open everyday 10-5 with the last timed...

The Hirshhorn (free entry) is a contemporary and modern art museum and member of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. The museum is located along in a round shaped building that has been likened to a spacecraft parked at The Mall. It is next to the Smithsonian Castle. Opening Hours are 10am to 5.30pm daily.

The museum includes several floors of exhibition space focusing on works from the last 50 years. During our last visit in May 2016, we particularly enjoyed the Linn Meyer 'Our View from Here' exhibition featuring a range of shapes formed solely by uninterrupted individual lines. This was beauty in simplicity and something we both really enjoyed seeing. Quite original, methodical and delightfully interesting images formed by Meyer.

We also enjoyed the Suspended Animation films shown on the lower level as well as the peculiar 'Belief + Doubt' exhibition by Barbara Kruger. Here the entire space is covered in intriguing phrases and sayings of various sizes, making use of black, white & red colour. It is an original art form that immerses viewers in language in all directions, which has the great effect of capturing your attention to provoking your thoughts.

There is a small gift shop on the lower level of the Hirshhorn but no restaurant or cafe here. There are some tables outside in the plaza area as well as sculptures scattered around the main building. For those who enjoy this art form, you should definitely allow time for the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden, just across the Jefferson on the Mall.

In the end, we like the Hirshhorn Museum, finding this to be a nice complement to the NGA and other art museums and galleries around the city. The contemporary art exhibitions here, at least during our recent visit, were child and family friendly and overall, pretty good works.

Note: You can visit the Hirshhorn Museum website before deciding to include a stop here during trips to D.C. They have a updated list of current and future exhibitions so you can have a think about what is available to view during the period of your intended visit to the capital...

It most certainly is an eccentric collection of art. I guess you can say art is like beauty, or beauty is like art. You either love the look of the art piece, or you don't. As a whole, I'm not in love with abstract art. However, I do appreciate some of the works.

The entrance to the museum is currently along the side of the building in the courtyard near the fountain. The main entrance is blocked off. Once inside the building, you're hit with the aroma of fresh brewed coffee. There is a Dolcezza Coffee & Gelato café in the main lobby with a very sleek design. The furnishings and overall look of the lobby was reimagined by Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto. He was inspired by the circular form of the building, and created a functional area that would incorporate the circles in nature. I was immediately drawn to the large table base with the spiral chairs. It's a slice of a 700 year old nutmeg tree that displays an intertwining root system under the glass table top. It's very unique, and really compliments the Hirshhorn Museum quite well.

We immediately headed up to the next level to view the "Revolutions" exhibit. This is where you'll find most of the famous contemporary art pieces from art history class. There were paintings from Georgia O'Keeffe, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Mary Cassatt, Jackson Pollock, and so many more. We walked through the "Four Talks" exhibit on our way to the next gallery. I won't even begin to interpret the thoughts painted in black and white with mixed grey swirls around each comment. We also saw a few Auguste Rodin sculptures along the way. We both agreed that Delaunay's "Eiffel Tower and Garden's, Champ de Mars" was truly the one art piece that captured our full attention.

We didn't get to see "Pickett's Charge" by Mark Bradford, nor did we see "Belief+Doubt" by Barbara Kruger. It was almost lunch time, and these 2 exhibits deserve more than just a brief walk through. We'll just have to revisit this museum the next time we're...