Joan Mondale, whose promotion and advocacy of painting, sculpture and other fine arts earned her the nickname Joan of Art in Washington during the vice presidency of her husband, Walter F. Mondale, in the late 1970s, died on Monday in Minneapolis. She was 83.

Her family announced the death in a statement released by Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis, where the Mondales have long been members. The cause was not specified. The family said on Sunday that she had gone into hospice care.

Ms. Mondale learned the role of traditional political wife early in her marriage; only four years after Mr. Mondale graduated from law school, he was appointed attorney general of Minnesota. But she expanded her reputation as a supporter of the arts every step of the way.

When the couple moved to Washington in 1964 after Mr. Mondale was appointed to fill the United States Senate seat vacated by Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, Ms. Mondale gave guided tours at the National Gallery of Art. She wrote “Politics in Art,” a book for children and young adults, in 1972. She worked with the Department of Transportation to turn railroad stations into art galleries, talked the National Park Service into selling crafts at its gift shops and raised money for Democratic candidates by auctioning donated art.