National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Amazing museum containing portraits and American Art. The collection includes an impressive array of self taught southern folk art. The upper levels contain archives and permanent visible storage of more esoteric works. A beautiful building and an underrated museum. Less crowded than the museums on the mall, and this building contains the second best collection in DC, behind only the National Gallery.

Quite a bit better than I would have ever expected. The interior courtyard is particularly nice on a cold day, with lovely orchids and other flowering plants. While you can do the entire gallery in one day, I would suggest spreading it out into two half days if you have the time.