"For the Increase and Diffusion of Knowledge"

With this broad mission and $500,000 from the estate of English scientist James Smithson, the U.S. Senate founded the Smithsonian Institution on this day in 1846.

The Smithsonian Resident Associate Program commissioned this work as a special emblem of the Smithsonian Institution. Artist Richard Haas perched on the tower of the Smithsonian Castle and depicted a panoramic sweep of the Mall from the Washington Monument to the Capitol—including Smithsonian museums—in this seven-color lithograph.

Haas, considered a leading architectural muralist, creates images of architectural history and whimsy on the urban fabric of today. An architectural historian, printmaker, and eminent painter, Haas paints trompe l'oeil windows and doors, cross-sections of entire buildings, and even streetscapes on the walls of old buildings—turning them into delightfully imaginative public art.

Source: The Smithsonian Associate (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Resident Associate Program, 1983).

Pictured: Richard Haas, born 1936, View of the Mall from the Castle, 1983, color lithograph on paper, 14 15/16 x 42 3/4 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Resident Associate Program, Smithsonian Institution.