Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Challenging the Face of Science: The Bearded Lady Project

This project brings into being the missing legacy of female paleontologists to overcome societal stereotypes concerning gender and professional roles.

November 14, 2019 – September 26, 2021

Natural History Museum

Kwel' Hoy: We Draw the Line

On July 29, 2021, a totem pole carved by the House of Tears Carvers of the Lummi Nation will conclude its cross-country journey in Washington, D.C.

July 2, 2021 – September 9, 2021

American Indian Museum DC

Men of Change: Taking it to the Streets

Men of Change presents a nation’s story through the profiles of revolutionary African American men.

February 1, 2021 – August 31, 2021

Anacostia Community Museum

Forces of Nature: Renwick Invitational 2020

Forces of Nature: Renwick Invitational 2020 features artists Lauren Fensterstock, Timothy Horn, Debora Moore, and Rowland Ricketts.

October 16, 2020 – August 15, 2021

Renwick Gallery

¡Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965 to Now

¡Printing the Revolution! explores the rise of Chicano graphics within 1960s social movements and the ways in which Chicanx artists since then have advanced innovative printmaking practices attuned to social justice.

November 20, 2020 – August 8, 2021

American Art Museum

New on View: Dawoud Bey and William H. Johnson

This focused installation features recently acquired photographs by Dawoud Bey in conversation with a painting by William H. Johnson that refer to the Underground Railroad.

May 14, 2021 – August 5, 2021

American Art Museum

Modern and Contemporary Art

SAAM’s galleries for modern and contemporary art display selections from the permanent collection from the 1940s to the present. Closed until fall 2023.

July 1, 2006 – July 12, 2021

American Art Museum

Art Since 1945

On view is modern and contemporary art, including works from Color Field, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art.

July 1, 2006 – July 12, 2021

American Art Museum

Alexander von Humboldt and the United States: Art, Nature, and Culture

Alexander von Humboldt was arguably the most important naturalist of the 19th century. Alexander von Humboldt and the United States places American art squarely in the center of a conversation on Humboldt’s lasting influence on the way we think about our relationship to our environment.

September 18, 2020 – July 11, 2021

American Art Museum

Contemporary Muslim Fashions

This is the first major museum exhibition to explore the complex and diverse nature of Muslim dress codes worldwide.

February 28, 2020 – July 11, 2021

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Illegal to Be You: Gay History Beyond Stonewall

The museum marks this 50th anniversary with a display featuring objects from its collections that put the history of that memorable event within a larger and longer experience of being gay.

June 21, 2019 – July 6, 2021

American History Museum

The Great Inka Road: Engineering an Empire

Explores the foundations of the Inka Road in earlier Andean cultures and the legacy of the Inka Empire during the colonial period and in the present day.

June 26, 2015 – June 27, 2021

American Indian Museum DC

Women of Progress: Early Camera Portraits

This exhibition of daguerreotypes and ambrotypes from the 1840s and 1850s features portraits of early feminist icons.

June 14, 2019 – June 13, 2021

Portrait Gallery

Power in Southeast Asia

Through a range of local styles, techniques, and materials, the artworks in this exhibition reveal understandings of power in Southeast Asia.

October 21, 2017 – June 1, 2021

Asian Art Museum, East Building

Every Eye Is Upon Me: First Ladies of the United States

Every Eye Is Upon Me is the first major exhibition to explore the historical significance of this prominent position through the mode of portraiture.

November 13, 2020 – May 23, 2021

Portrait Gallery

Now Showing: Posters from African American Movies

Now Showing features original posters and lobby cards and select ephemera from the Museum’s permanent collection.

November 22, 2019 – April 18, 2021

African American History and Culture Museum

Why We Serve: Native Americans in the United States Armed Forces

Why We Serve honors the generations of Native Americans who have served in the armed forces of the United States since the American Revolution.

November 11, 2020 – February 28, 2021

American Indian Museum DC

Sculpture Down to Scale: Models for Public Art at Federal Buildings, 1974-1985

The nine maquettes in this exhibition—many of them considered by the artists to be completed works of art in their own right—offered a concrete vision of the artists’ ideas and served as a way to share them with selection committees, patrons, and communities.

May 31, 2019 – November 22, 2020

American Art Museum

Visionary: The Cumming Family Collection

The exhibition features commissioned portraits of internationally recognized subjects by prominent American artists such as Chuck Close, Robert McCurdy, and Nelson Shanks.

September 18, 2020 – November 22, 2020

Portrait Gallery

Picturing the American Buffalo: George Catlin and Modern Native American Artists

Picturing the American Buffalo: George Catlin and Modern Native American Artists considers the representation of the American buffalo from two perspectives: a selection of paintings by George Catlin (1796–1872), and works by modern Native artists.

October 11, 2019 – November 22, 2020

American Art Museum

Elephants and Us: Considering Extinction

Elephants and Us explores the evolving relationship between Americans and elephants and the leadership role the U.S. has taken in wildlife protection.

November 1, 2019 – November 22, 2020

American History Museum

Still Life with Spirit and Xitle

Still Life with Spirit and Xitle features a car being crushed by a volcanic boulder with a comical smiley face painted on it by artist Jimmie Durham.

August 6, 2016 – November 6, 2020

Hirshhorn Museum

Patriot Nations: Native Americans in Our Nation's Armed Forces

Using art, photography and essays, the 16-panel show examines more than 300 years of Native people's contributions to the U.S. military.

January 21, 2017 – October 30, 2020

American Indian Museum DC

The Batmobile

The Batmobile from the Tim Burton-directed superhero film “Batman” is on view.

January 12, 2018 – October 20, 2020

American History Museum

Lee Ufan: Open Dimension

The expansive installation, featuring 10 new sculptures from the artist’s signature and continuing Relatum series, marks Lee Ufan’s largest single outdoor sculpture project in the U.S.

September 27, 2019 – October 18, 2020

Hirshhorn Museum