Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Abigail DeVille: Light of Freedom

Abigail DeVille's 13-foot-tall sculpture responds to the Black Lives Matter movement within the larger context of America's long relationship to the idea of liberty itself.

October 15, 2021 – July 26, 2022

Hirshhorn Museum

Mind Over Matter: Zen in Medieval Japan

This exhibition showcases the breadth of the museum’s medieval Zen collections, highlighting rare and striking works from Japan and China to illustrate the visual, spiritual, and philosophical power of Zen.

March 5, 2022 – July 24, 2022

Asian Art Museum, West Building

Falcons: The Art of the Hunt

A selection of paintings and objects from ancient Egypt to China offer a glimpse into the fascinating world of falcons.

January 15, 2022 – July 17, 2022

Asian Art Museum, West Building

FUTURES

Part exhibition, part festival, FUTURES presents nearly 32,000 square feet of new immersive site-specific art installations, interactives, working experiments, inventions, speculative designs, and “artifacts of the future,” as well as historic objects and discoveries from the Smithsonian.

November 20, 2021 – July 6, 2022

Arts and Industries Building

Ruby Slippers

A special collection of displays featuring American history through culture, entertainment, and the arts.

October 19, 2018 – June 12, 2022

American History Museum

Marcel Duchamp: The Barbara and Aaron Levine Collection

This exhibition features the recent gift of over 50 major historical artworks, including more than 35 seminal works by Duchamp, promised to the museum by Washington, D.C., collectors Barbara and Aaron Levine.

November 9, 2019 – June 5, 2022

Hirshhorn Museum

The Peacock Room in Blue and White

The Peacock Room in Blue and White fills the room’s shelving with blue-and-white Chinese porcelains, inspired by room’s appearance in 1876 when it was the dining room of Frederick Leyland, a shipping magnate in London.

May 18, 2019 – June 1, 2022

Asian Art Museum, West Building

Hung Liu: Portraits of Promised Lands, 1968-2020

The National Portrait Gallery presents the first major large-scale retrospective of work by Hung Liu, the internationally acclaimed Chinese-born American artist.

August 27, 2021 – May 30, 2022

Portrait Gallery

All Work and No Pay: A History of Women's Invisible Labor

Break rooms across America hold signs that read: “Your mother doesn’t work here.” All Work and No Pay examines the implied expectation that women will take care of the housework.

March 4, 2019 – May 30, 2022

American History Museum

Fashioning an Empire: Safavid Textiles from the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha

This exhibition focuses on a selection of extraordinary seventeenth-century textiles and full-length portraits from Safavid Iran. Fine illustrated manuscript folios from our collections are also included in the exhibition.

December 18, 2021 – May 15, 2022

Asian Art Museum, East Building

Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian Glass: American Artists and the Magic of Murano

Experience the spectacle of Venice and its rich history as a glassmaking capital through Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian Glass: American Artists and the Magic of Murano.

October 8, 2021 – May 8, 2022

American Art Museum

Baseball Legend Jackie Robinson's Jersey

Baseball legend Jackie Robinson’s jersey is on display in commemoration of the 75th anniversary Robinson integrating Major League Baseball.

April 7, 2022 – May 1, 2022

African American History and Culture Museum

Orchids: Hidden Stories of Groundbreaking Women

Orchids: Hidden Stories of Groundbreaking Women unearths stories of women who have enriched our understanding and appreciation of orchids.

January 29, 2022 – April 24, 2022

Smithsonian Gardens

Magnificent Obsessions: Why We Collect

Smithsonian Libraries preserves historic treasures and everyday items to provide a window onto the past.

November 7, 2018 – April 11, 2022

American History Museum

Underground Modernist: E. McKnight Kauffer

The largest-ever exhibition of works by graphic design pioneer E. McKnight Kauffer (American, 1890–1954) traces the designer’s transformative role in integrating avant-garde style into modern life.

September 10, 2021 – April 10, 2022

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Dewing's Poetic World

Exploring Dewing’s social connections reveals how his art was influenced by his friendships with Charles Lang Freer, who encouraged him to pursue Japonisme, and with architect Stanford White, who designed the elaborate frames for many of his paintings on view in this intriguing exhibition.

November 27, 2019 – April 3, 2022

Asian Art Museum, West Building

Toyin Ojih Odutola: A Countervailing Theory

The exhibition features a recent body of work in the form of a monumental cycle of 40 large-scale, monochromatic drawings that chronicle a myth conceived by the artist.

November 19, 2021 – April 3, 2022

Hirshhorn Museum

Biomes: Life in the Balance

Visit deserts, rainforests, grasslands, wetlands, and tundra without leaving the National Mall in this Smithsonian Garden's exhibit.

May 10, 2019 – March 31, 2022

Ripley Center

#IfThenSheCan - The Exhibit

#IfThenSheCan – The Exhibit is he largest collection of statues of women ever assembled together, to be installed on and around the National Mall.

March 5, 2022 – March 27, 2022

Smithsonian Gardens

Storied Women of the Civil War Era

This intimate exhibition includes portraits of Civil War era women who captivated the public while becoming sought-after subjects for Mathew Brady’s camera.

May 24, 2019 – March 20, 2022

Portrait Gallery

Unsettled Nature: Artists Reflect on the Age of Humans

Unsettled Nature offers visitors the opportunity to explore the unparalleled, ubiquitous and still-growing mark that humanity is making on the world through 16 works of art.

June 18, 2021 – March 7, 2022

Natural History Museum

New Glass Now

New Glass Now documents the innovation and dexterity of artists, designers, and architects from around the world working in the challenging material of glass. This global survey is designed to highlight the breadth and depth of contemporary glass making.

October 22, 2021 – March 6, 2022

Renwick Gallery

Connections: Contemporary Craft at the Renwick Gallery

Connections is the Renwick Gallery’s dynamic ongoing permanent collection presentation, featuring more than 80 objects celebrating craft as a discipline and an approach to living differently in the modern world.

March 12, 2019 – March 6, 2022

Renwick Gallery

Uncle Tom's Cabin: Early and Notable Editions

The exhibit shows the early and notable editions of the novel in the library’s collection, as well as its interesting publishing history.

February 28, 2020 – February 28, 2022

African American History and Culture Museum

Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange across Medieval Saharan Africa

Rare and precious archaeological fragments are seen side by side, bringing new understanding to complete works of art from the medieval period.

July 16, 2021 – February 27, 2022

African Art Museum