Exhibitions

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View news releases below or see all of our publicly released upcoming exhibitions.

Multicolored quilt with repeating patterns and large blue square in center.

Unidentified Maker​​, Crazy Star; ca. 1920​​, Arthur, Illinois​​, cotton and wool; 74 x 63 ½ in. (detail), Collection of Faith and Stephen Brown, Promised gift to the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

New Exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum Examines Traditional and Innovative Designs by Amish Women Quilters
Presentation Features Recent Gift From Collectors Faith and Stephen Brown
03.27.2024
American Art Museum Exhibitions New Acquisitions
Turquoise-colored ceramic with painted small orange koi fish and a slice of lime, small gray and white bird on top.
Smithsonian Craft Show Opens May 1
The Country’s Best Contemporary Craft for Purchase at Juried Event
03.27.2024
Exhibitions Public Programs
Sepia-toned picture of woman smiling, dancing on a stage with hands on opposite knees.

“Josephine Baker” by Waléry, gelatin silver print, 1926. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

National Portrait Gallery Presents “Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900–1939”
On View April 26–Feb. 23, 2025
03.27.2024
Portrait Gallery Exhibitions
Computer graphic with dark blue background and colored silhouettes of athletes in various positions.
Smithsonian Sports Invention Exhibition Will Have People Rethinking Their Game
“Change Your Game”/“Cambia tu juego” Opens March 15 at the National Museum of American History
03.11.2024
American History Museum Exhibitions
Graphic with blue background, title in center, and various smaller objects including purple dress, microscope, and journal.
Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum Launches First Digital Exhibition
Lynda Carter Joins for a Virtual Look Inside the Exhibition March 14
03.07.2024
American Women's History Museum Exhibitions
Black and white image of a group of young students sitting at desks in an arts classroom.

Lois Mailou Jones in her classroom at Howard University, Credit: Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Anacostia Community Museum Presents Exhibition About Black Arts Education in Washington, D.C.
“A Bold and Beautiful Vision” Opens March 23
03.07.2024
Anacostia Community Museum Exhibitions
Full body portrait of woman wearing hair covering in broad swaths of color.
William H. Johnson’s “Fighters for Freedom” Series Reunited for the First Time in More Than 75 Years at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Exhibition Is Drawn From the Museum’s Extensive Collection of Works by the Black Modernist Painter and Important Figure of the Harlem Renaissance
03.07.2024
American Art Museum Exhibitions
Multiple images of various objects including a wooden chair, green floor lamp, map of New York City, granite side table.
Exhibition at Cooper Hewitt to Celebrate Recent Acquisitions to the Collection
"Acquired! Shaping the National Design Collection" On View March 16 Through Sept. 2, 2024
02.27.2024
Cooper Hewitt Exhibitions
Close-up photograph of gold surface with bumpy texture and repeating pattern.

Embossed gold jar (detail), Ōnuma Chihiro (b. 1950), Japan, Shōwa era, 1988, hammered copper with amalgam gilding (kinkeshi), National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Bequest of Shirley Z. Johnson, S2022.8.37a–c Copyright Ōnuma Chihiro.

National Museum of Asian Art Announces Its Newly Acquired Shirley Z. Johnson Collection of Contemporary Japanese Metalwork
Objects From This Unprecedented Gift Will Be on View in the Upcoming Exhibition “Striking Objects: Contemporary Japanese Metalwork”
02.26.2024
Exhibitions New Acquisitions
Image of two paintings side by side, woman on left wears a black dress in dark room and woman on right wears blue dress.

Left: John Singer Sargent, “Mrs. Kate A. Moore,” 1884. Oil on canvas; 71 5/8 x 45 3/4 in. (181.9 x 116.2 cm). Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1972 (72.257). Photo: Lee Stalsworth.

Right: Amoako Boafo, “Cobalt Blue Dress,” 2020. Oil on canvas; 78 3/8 x 60 1/2 in. (199.1 x 153.7 cm). Gift of Sandra and Howard Hoffen, 2022 (2022.016). Photo: Rob Blunt.

“Revolutions: Art from the Hirshhorn Collection, 1860–1960” Inaugurates the 50th Anniversary of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Exhibition of 270 Artworks Charts the Development of the National Collection
02.21.2024
Hirshhorn Museum Exhibitions
A man embraces a woman from behind in a black and white image.

Clark Gable and Joan Crawford by George Hurrell, gelatin silver print, 1936. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; acquired in part through the generosity of an anonymous donor.

National Portrait Gallery Presents “Star Power: Photographs From Hollywood’s Golden Age by George Hurrell”
On View March 1–Jan. 5, 2025
02.01.2024
Portrait Gallery Exhibitions
Computer-generated mockup of multiple people, of various ages and appearance, in museum gallery looking at real planes.

World War I: The Birth of Military Aviation Gallery Rendering. Smithsonian Institution.

National Air and Space Museum Provides Update on Renovation Project
Museum Shares Names and Renderings of Final 12 Galleries To Open
01.30.2024
Air and Space Museum Exhibitions
A woman seated at a table, sewing a bodysuit with a patch of the American flag and patch with the acronym NASA.

"Sewing a fine seam—finishing touches are applied to one section of the new spacesuit for NASA's Apollo lunar missions on this long-arm sewing machine, built specially for manufacturing the spacesuits." Hazel Fellows, seated, machine-sewing pieces of an Apollo A7L spacesuit on the production line at International Latex Corporation (ILC), Federica (Dover), Delaware; released Aug. 9, 1968. Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum Celebrates Women’s History Month 2024 With Inaugural Digital Exhibition and New Initiatives
01.30.2024
American Women's History Museum Exhibitions Public Programs
Facade of building with colorful sculpture and large doorway.
“From the Deep: In the Wake of Drexciya with Ayana V. Jackson” Extended to Jan. 6, 2025, at National Museum of African Art
01.16.2024
African Art Museum Exhibitions
Photograph of live orchid planted in colorful, patterned pot admist other lush greenery.
Smithsonian Gardens To Present 28th Annual Orchid Exhibition
Installation Includes Commissioned Works by Artist Phaan Howng and Explores Conservation Efforts
01.10.2024
Smithsonian Gardens Exhibitions Public Programs
Two male figures in black coats stand in front of wall with colorful graffiti.

Portrait of OSGEMEOS by Filipe Berndt.

Hirshhorn Presents First US Museum Survey of Brazilian Graffiti Artists OSGEMEOS
Large-Scale Exhibition of Nearly 1,000 Artworks, Objects and Archival Materials Traces OSGEMEOS’ Creative Evolution, On View May 18, 2024–July 6, 2025
12.06.2023
Hirshhorn Museum Exhibitions
Square yellow button with two silhouettes facing each other and candles in between.

Pinback button celebrating the seven principles of Kwanzaa.
Credit: Collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture

Kwanzaa and Holiday Specials Highlight December Programming at the National Museum of African American History and Culture
11.27.2023
African American Museum Exhibitions Public Programs
An organic, black piece of whale against a black background

A plate of baleen (left) and a plastic shard (right) found in the gut of the first Rice’s whale to be scientifically described.

Credit: James D. Tiller and Fred Cochard, Smithsonian.

Smithsonian To Host Symposium Focused on Endangered Rice’s Whale in Partnership With NOAA, Marine Mammal Commission
Museum Will Display Remains of the First Scientifically Described Rice’s Whale
11.09.2023
Natural History Museum Research News Exhibitions
Exterior of sand colored building with two domes and a large, multicolor sculpture.
Georges Adéagbo’s “Create to Free Yourselves” Opens Nov. 18 at National Museum of African Art
Mixed-media Installation Focuses on Relationship Between Life and Purpose
11.03.2023
African Art Museum Exhibitions
Black and white image of Asteroid Bennu

This mosaic image of asteroid Bennu is composed of 12 PolyCam images collected Dec. 2, 2018, by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft from a range of 15 miles (24 kilometers). The image was obtained at a 50-degree phase angle between the spacecraft, asteroid and the sun, and in it, Bennu spans approximately 1,500 pixels in the camera’s field of view. Date taken: Dec. 2, 2018. Instrument used: OCAMS (PolyCam).

Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona.

Smithsonian To Open First Public Display of Asteroid Bennu Sample Collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Mission
Arrival of Samples Is a Major Milestone in the Museum’s ‘Our Unique Planet’ Initiative
10.26.2023
Natural History Museum Exhibitions
"The Families Civil War" book cover

The museum hosts Holly A. Pinheiro Jr. for a book talk about his latest publication, The Families’ Civil War: Black Soldiers and the Fight for Racial Justice, Nov. 11.

Military and Culture Programs Take the Spotlight in November at the National Museum of African American History and Culture
10.24.2023
African American Museum Exhibitions Public Programs
Composite image of Lews photo and Vernon portrait
Smithsonian Adds Visionary Leaders Byron Lewis and Lillian Vernon to Landmark “American Enterprise” Exhibition
Business History Contributions To Be Highlighted in Exhibit’s Consumer Era Section
10.13.2023
American History Museum Exhibitions
Historic photo of the tunnel where the robbery of Train 13 took place

https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibition/tragedy-at-tunnel-13-exhibition/the-context

The holdup of Train 13 on October 11, 1923, took place in the Siskiyou Mountains just beneath treacherous Siskiyou Pass, where Tunnel 13 served as an integral connector on the Southern Pacific rail line for over 100 years. (Southern Oregon Historical Society 1977.117.14, #034468)

 

Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum Launches New Virtual Exhibition
Remembering the Tragedy at Tunnel 13 a Century Ago
10.04.2023
Postal Museum Exhibitions
Postage stamp honoring Hispanic Americans

© United States Postal Service

Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum Launches New Virtual Exhibition
Complete Collection of U.S. Postage Stamps Honoring Hispanic Heritage Now Online
09.28.2023
Postal Museum Exhibitions

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