Paint the Town Red

Lighting up the entrance to the Reynolds Center in honor of the Washington Capitals.
This is an image of a woman next to the Stanley Cup with the capital in the background.
Kari Jones
Video Assistant
June 1, 2018

Have you noticed something different about our building?

Our hometown Washington Capitals are in the Stanley Cup final for the first time in 20 years. They’re facing the Las Vegas Golden Knights, a team that didn’t even exist this time last year, in a best of seven series. The Caps won game two of the series in Las Vegas, marking their first Stanley Cup Finals win in franchise history. With the series tied at one each, they head home to the Capital One Arena for games three and four. 

In honor of this historic achievement in DC sports, the Donald W. Reynolds Center, home to both SAAM and the National Portrait Gallery, is lighting its H, G, and 7th Street exteriors with Washington Capitals red, as are our neighbors, Capital One Arena (of course!), and the Hotel Monaco. For once, seeing red in DC is a good thing!

And, to take a time out for a moment, sports has always had a strong influence on artists in our collection, whether it's hockey, baseball, or swimming, to name a few. One of our visitor favorites is iconic in the SAAM canon: Baseball at Night by Morris Kantor. And, as you can see in some of the related images below, hockey gets its fair share of love, too.  

Last but not least, Go CAPS! 

 

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