Solution: The Runaround Puzzle
Answer: RECENTDEPARTURE

Written by Dawson Do

Each item on the list is a direction that guides the solver to different museums around the world. To aid in solving, reading the first word of every point gives: CONSIDER GETTING THE GOOGLE ART CULTURE APPLICATION OR STREET VIEWING

As stated in the directions, each location has two artworks of interest. To traverse from one location to the other, solvers must link paintings from different places using the respective art styles, clued by the flavortext. Given the National Gallery of Art as the starting location, a loop can be constructed, giving an order.

Order Title Artist Style Museum Place Letters
1 Ginevra de Benci Leonardo da Vinci Renaissance National Gallery of Art D.C. SU
2 Doni Tondo Michaelangelo Renaissance Uffizi Gallery Florence BM
3 Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints Vecchietta Medieval Uffizi Gallery Florence IT
4 Saint James Major, the Madonna and Child, and Various Saints Bartolemeo Vivarini Medieval Getty Museum Los Angeles LA
5 Dance Before a Fountain Nicolas Lancret Rococo Getty Museum Los Angeles ST
6 Pastoral Music Francois Boucher Rococo Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Tokyo LO
7 Water Lilies Claude Monet Impressionism Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Tokyo CA
8 The Basket Chair Berthe Morisot Impressionism The Museum of Fine Arts Houston TI
9 1951-No.3 (PH-816) or PH-241 Clyfford Still Abstract Expressionist The Museum of Fine Arts Houston ON
10 John F. Kennedy Elaine de Kooning Abstract Expressionist National Portrait Gallery D.C. 87

Given the enumeration on the bottom the phrase spells: SUBMIT LAST LOCATION (8,7). The last location you visit is the National Portrait Gallery, and the enumeration specifies to submit: PORTRAIT GALLERY

Submitting this into the answer checker returns a prompt that asks the solver to submit their own portrait. If using the Arts and Culture app, solvers could use an art filter or the art selfie function. Anything original was welcome, too. Solvers were then given the answer: RECENT DEPARTURE

Author’s Notes

We tried to dot art themed puzzles throughout the puzzlehunt and since you can’t go inside the NGA, I thought I’d fill that in with a scavenger hunt around other museums.

I wanted to stick this puzzle near the beginning in order to maximize the number of portraits!