Billionaire Mitchell Rales gave the US National Gallery of Art $116 million. The money will help bring its masterpieces to museums across all 50 states

For decades, seeing some of America's most important artworks has meant making a trip to Washington, DC. Now, a gift from a

billionaire is set to change that.On April 21, 2026, billionaire and longtime museum trustee Mitchell P. Rales announced a $116 million gift that will permanently endow the National Gallery's Across the Nation program — an ambitious effort to send works from its permanent collection to regional museums around the country.

The goal is bigger than a handful of traveling exhibitions. Over the first 10 years, the museum plans to bring the program to all 50 states, giving millions of Americans an opportunity to see works from the National Gallery without having to travel to Washington.


And because Rales' gift is an endowment, the program is designed to continue indefinitely.

The idea started with a 2025 pilot

Across the Nation was launched in 2025 as a pilot program.

Ten museums participated in the inaugural effort, with National Gallery artworks installed at the partner institutions in spring 2025. According to the National Gallery, the loans reached nearly 900,000 visitors during their first year.

The concept was relatively simple: let regional museums select works from the National Gallery's permanent collection that fit their own exhibitions and collections, then make it possible for those works to remain on long-term loan.

But making that happen can be expensive.

So the National Gallery designed the program to remove many of the costs and logistical hurdles normally associated with borrowing major works of art.

The National Gallery covers the costs

Participating museums receive the artworks on long-term loan at no cost.

The National Gallery also covers expenses associated with:

• Transportation
• Installation
• Insurance
• Professional training
• Regional marketing

The museums can then incorporate the works into their own exhibitions and programming.

The arrangement also extends beyond the physical artworks. Participating institutions can collaborate with the National Gallery on digital, scholarly and educational initiatives.

That makes Across the Nation less like a traditional touring exhibition and more like a long-term partnership between a national museum and regional institutions.

Why the $116 million endowment is different

The scale of Rales' gift is significant on its own.

The National Gallery says the $116 million contribution is the largest gift ever made to endow programming at the institution. Its size is comparable with the museum's original founding gifts.

More importantly, the money changes the future of Across the Nation.

Instead of relying on temporary funding to operate individual cycles, the program now has a permanent endowment behind it. That gives the National Gallery the ability to keep expanding the initiative over time.

Rales' connection to the museum goes back two decades. He has served on its Board of Trustees for 20 years and was president from 2019 to 2024. He has also supported major museum initiatives and helped with acquisitions of important works.

He previously funded the Across the Nation pilot, helping establish the model that his latest gift will now support permanently.

There is a lot of art to choose from

The National Gallery's permanent collection contains more than 160,000 works, spanning from the ancient world to the present.

That gives regional museums an enormous range of possibilities.

Rather than sending the same collection of works on a fixed national tour, Across the Nation allows participating institutions to select pieces that make sense for their own audiences.

A museum in one part of the country might choose a work that complements its existing collection, while another could use a National Gallery piece to support a particular exhibition or educational program.

The result is a more localized way of sharing a national collection.

The ambition: all 50 states

The National Gallery's plans don't stop with the first 10 museums.

The institution intends to lend works to museums in all 50 states during the first 10 years of the program.

The next cycle is scheduled to begin in autumn 2027 and run through 2029, with participating museums expected to be announced later.

If the program reaches its target, people who live hundreds or thousands of miles from Washington could encounter National Gallery works in museums much closer to home.

That matters because visiting Washington isn't equally easy for everyone.

A national collection may technically be available to the public, but geography, travel costs and time can still create a barrier. Across the Nation is designed to tackle that problem by moving some of the collection instead of expecting audiences to move.

From Washington to communities across America

That is ultimately what makes Rales' $116 million gift unusual.

It isn't simply paying for another exhibition or adding another building to the museum. It is funding a system for sharing the National Gallery's collection with communities across the country.

The pilot's nearly 900,000 visitors offered an early indication of what that could look like.

Now, with permanent funding in place, the experiment is becoming a core part of the National Gallery's mission.

The museum has described the initiative as part of its vision of being a museum "of the nation and for all the people."

For visitors who may never make it to Washington, that could mean something very tangible: one day, a masterpiece from the National Gallery's collection might be hanging in a museum much closer to home.