Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Renwick Installation

View jewelry, teapots, stoneware and fiber pieces, earthenware, and wooden bowls.

August 1, 1989 – December 8, 2013

Selections from the Renwick Collection

View 45 masterworks from the museum's permanent collection including the Albert Paley gates, Viktor Schreckengost's Apocalypse '42, Harvey Littleton's Opalescent Red Crown, and James Prestini's turned-wood bowls.

March 6, 1987 – December 8, 2013

Renwick Gallery

The National Woman Suffrage Parade, 1913

Learn about the impact of the 1913 women's suffrage march in Washington, DC, the first civil rights parade to use the nation's capital as a backdrop.

February 28, 2013 – December 2, 2013

American History Museum

Searching for Goldilocks

Angela Palmer's glass sculpture captures the excitement of the Kepler Space Observatory's quest for planets that might fit the criteria for life: not too hot, not too cold, but just right.

July 26, 2013 – December 1, 2013

Air and Space Museum

Suited for Space

Witness the modern technological marvel that is the spacesuit.

July 26, 2013 – December 1, 2013

Air and Space Museum

The Art of Handwriting

See how the handwriting of influential artists can offer new insights into his or her artistic style and personality.

July 2, 2013 – November 17, 2013

Archives of American Art

Black Box: Gerco de Ruijter

View Crop, Gerco de Ruijter's stop-motion animation of the cultivated landscape that is identifiable yet abstract and is set to a stuttering, hypnotic score by Michel Banabila.

August 12, 2013 – November 12, 2013

Hirshhorn Museum

Sense of Place: Landscape Photographs from Asia

See prints by Abbas Kiarostami, Lois Conner, Moriyama Daido, Seifollah Samadian, Hai Bo, and An-My Le that employ views of the landscape to convey personal and cultural contexts of meaning.

August 3, 2013 – November 11, 2013

Asian Art Museum, East Building

Grand Salon Installation: Paintings from the Smithsonian American Art Museum

On view are 70 paintings from the 1840s to the 1930s installed salon style, with paintings hung one-atop-another and side by side.

June 6, 2009 – November 11, 2013

Renwick Gallery

Inventing a Better Mousetrap: Patent Models from the Rothschild Collection

Back on view are 32 models for 19th-century inventions submitted to the Patent Office by inventors from across the United States that illustrate the imaginative fervor and amazing craftsmanship of the era.

November 11, 2011 – November 4, 2013

American Art Museum

Reclaiming the Edge: Urban Waterways and Civic Engagement

Explore how urban waterways, such as the Anacostia River, can be both barriers and economic resources for the community.

October 15, 2012 – November 3, 2013

Anacostia Community Museum

Recent Acquisitions

See works recently aquired by the museum.

November 9, 2012 – October 27, 2013

Portrait Gallery

Directions: Jennie C. Jones: Higher Resonance

Discover Jones's audio collages and the connections between art and music.

May 16, 2013 – October 27, 2013

Hirshhorn Museum

Leonardo da Vinci's Codex on the Flight of Birds

See how Leonardo da Vinci used his observations of birds to work out how humans could fly.

September 13, 2013 – October 22, 2013

Air and Space Museum

Life in the Ancient Seas

Fantastic marine fossils tell the story of evolution and extinction in the seas in three acts: the Paleozoic Era (540 to 250 million years ago), the Mesozoic Era (250 to 65 million years ago), and the Cenozoic Era (65 million years ago to today).

May 18, 1990 – October 21, 2013

Natural History Museum

Old Tales Retold: Chinese Narrative Painting

Trace the stories of famous people and events in Chinese history and see how their depictions in art reveal traditional Chinese values and the universality of human experience.

April 20, 2013 – October 20, 2013

Asian Art Museum, West Building

Snowboarding

Learn about the history of snowboarding and see the Snurfer, one of the earliest snowboard prototypes.

February 20, 2012 – October 20, 2013

American History Museum

Peter Coffin: Here & There

Emphasizing his chameleon-like virtuosity working with different media, look for Peter Coffin's artworks throughout the museum.

June 29, 2013 – October 6, 2013

Hirshhorn Museum

Octagon Room

Visit the Octagon Room, furnished with paintings from SAAM's collection, including impressionism and the Gilded Age period.

January 28, 1972 – October 1, 2013

Renwick Gallery

Inside Insights: Photographs by the Smithsonian Community

Winning entries from the 2012 Smithsonian Staff Photo Contest offer a deeper understanding of the Smithsonian and its talented staff.

December 10, 2012 – September 22, 2013

Ripley Center

Honoring Lincoln: Abraham Lincoln Certified Plate Proofs

Eleven certified plate proofs for postage stamps issued from 1894 to 1959 honoring Abraham Lincoln are on view in the Philatelic Gallery pullout frames.

November 15, 2008 – September 21, 2013

Postal Museum

Philatelic Gallery

For both the serious collector and those who know little about the renowned hobby of stamp collecting, this gallery highlights some of the best philatic collections in the world.

July 30, 1993 – September 21, 2013

Postal Museum

Amelia Earhart's Personal Collection

Portraits of aviator Amelia Earhart tell the story of her career and pay special attention to her work on behalf of women’s rights.

November 12, 2007 – September 21, 2013

Postal Museum

Over, Under, Next: Experiments in Mixed Media, 1913 to the Present

See how artists over the last 100 years have used objects -- the fragments and detritus in the world around them -- to challenge traditional art media.

April 18, 2013 – September 8, 2013

Hirshhorn Museum

Whistler's Neighborhood: Impressions of a Changing London

See how the Chelsea neighborhood of London rapidly changed in the 1880s through the eyes of artist James McNeill Whistler.

September 3, 2012 – September 3, 2013

Asian Art Museum, West Building