Night at the Museum: Smithsonian art and architecture identification

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Extra Credit Scavenger Hunt

The 2009 comedy film "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" is set in the famed Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., but in reality many of the scenes were shot inside New York City's American Museum of Natural History (AMNA), where the main character Larry Daley (played by Ben Stiller) actually worked in the first film. This means that much of the artwork and architecture seen on display throughout the film can actually be observed at either the Smithsonian or the AMNA. The following list highlights several of the most interesting examples of artwork, animal skeletons, cultural artifacts and other displays shown in the film that actually exist in either of these two incredible museums.

These are paintings and sculptures that I noticed on display in the background, or in the case of The Thinker and Venus Italica, coming to life and flirting with one another. Also listed are the major museums and architectural monuments which were featured in the film:

Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C

American Museum of Natural History (AMNA) in New York City

The Lincoln Memorial, monument sculpture by Daniel Chester French, in Washington, D.C.

Crying Girl, painting by Roy Lichtenstein

Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, sculpture by Edgar Degas

Grant and his Generals, painting by Ole Peter Hansen Balling

American Gothic, painting by Grant Wood

The Thinker, sculpture by Auguste Rodin

Balloon Dog, sculpture by Jeff Koons

Venus Italica, sculpture by Antonio Canova

Nighthawks, painted by Edward Hopper

V-J day in Times Square, picture taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt

Sierra Nevada, painting by Albert Bierstadt

LOVE, sculpture by Robert Indiana

Portrait of President Theodore Roosevelt, painting by Adrian Lamb

London from Greenwich Park, painting by J.M.W. Turner

Skating in Central Park, painting by Agnes Tait

Untitled, abstract sculpture by Isamu Noguchi