Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney was born January 9th 1875 in New York to Cornelius Vanderbilt II, who considered the wealthiest man in the United States at the time, and Alice Claypoole Gwynne. Her early interests in art and bohemian life set her apart from her elite counterparts, and while her class made it easier for her to support herself financially in a way that her fellow artists could not, she faced struggle from various areas of her life to be taken seriously as an artist. She began to pursue art more actively after her marriage to Harry Payne Whitney in 1986, studying sculpture under the Hendrik Christian Andersen and James Earle Fraser at the Art Students League of New York.
Throughout her life, Whitney worked to provide an outlet for American artists to exhibit their work. In 1929, after the Metropolitan Museum of Art rejected her collection of over 500 paintings and sculptures because they refused to take American art, she sought to open up a space which would give American artists the chance to submit their work. After the museum’s opening in 1931, she continued her work up until her death in 1942.