Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Age Old Cities: A Virtual Journey from Palmyra to Mosul

This exhibition immerses visitors in the history and splendor of three Arab World cities which are major centers of world heritage—Mosul, Aleppo, and Palmyra.

January 25, 2020 – March 13, 2020

Asian Art Museum, East Building

Xu Bing: Monkeys Grasp for the Moon

This whimsical sculpture, hanging from the atrium to the refllecting pool, is composed of 21 laminated wood pieces, with each forming the word "monkey" in a dozen different languages.

October 14, 2017 – March 13, 2020

Asian Art Museum, East Building

Gods, Companions, and Devotees

Hinduism is a living religion with complex roots reaching back more than four thousand years. Its three major deities—the gods Shiva and Vishnu and the goddess with multiple names—each take on many forms.

May 23, 2017 – March 13, 2020

Asian Art Museum, East Building

A Glimpse of Ancient Yemen

A Glimpse of Ancient Yemen highlights a small selection of objects that were excavated from the region by the pioneer archaeologist Wendell Phillips and his team in 1950 and 1951.

August 18, 2018 – March 13, 2020

Asian Art Museum, East Building

Hokusai: Mad about Painting

In commemoration of the centennial of Freer’s death in 1919, and in celebration of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2020, the Freer Gallery presents an exploration of the prolific career of Katsushika Hokusai.

November 23, 2019 – March 13, 2020

Asian Art Museum, West Building

Resound: Bells of Ancient China

Re-sound investigates oval-shaped bells with displays of early instruments including a graduated set of matched bells discovered together in a Chinese tomb, videos of ancient bells being played, and chances for visitors to compose their own music on virtual bronze bells.

October 14, 2017 – March 13, 2020

Asian Art Museum, East Building

Shaping Clay in Ancient Iran

This exhibition of ceramics produced in northwestern Iran highlights animal-shaped vessels as well as jars and bowls decorated with animal figures.

September 8, 2018 – March 13, 2020

Asian Art Museum, East Building

Chiura Obata: American Modern

Chiura Obata presents the most comprehensive survey of the artist's rich and varied body of work to date with more than 150 paintings and personal effects, many of which are on public display for the first time.

November 27, 2019 – March 13, 2020

American Art Museum

Snapshots of African American Communities

To celebrate the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the National Museum of American History presents a special display of 25 photographs that reflect the diversity of the African American experience.

September 9, 2016 – March 13, 2020

American History Museum

Turtle Ocean

An art installation composed entirely of recycled plastic trash and marine debris, Turtle Ocean depicts an entangled Hawksbill turtle swimming in an environment of water bottle sea jellies and beached flip flop anemones along with marine debris seaweed and coral made of old buoys, crates, and buckets.

June 8, 2016 – March 13, 2020

Natural History Museum

Forgotten Workers: Chinese Migrants and the Building of the Transcontinental Railroad

Marking the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, Hidden Workers focuses on the forgotten Chinese workers who built the western leg of the railroad across the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

May 10, 2019 – March 13, 2020

American History Museum

Direct Carving

Spontaneous! Truthful! Liberating! Direct carvers often used such words to describe their unconventional method of sculpting, in which an artist works directly on a piece of stone or wood as opposed to with a model, cast, or preconceived design.

February 5, 2015 – March 13, 2020

American Art Museum

Beauty Rich and Rare

An immersive sound and light experience recreates the wonder experienced by Joseph Banks and the botanists, scientists, and illustrators who traveled on the HMS Endeavour.

January 9, 2020 – March 13, 2020

Natural History Museum

Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists

Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists, organized by the Minneapolis Institute of Art, is the first major thematic exhibition to explore the artistic achievements of Native women.

February 21, 2020 – March 13, 2020

Renwick Gallery

50 Years from Tranquility Base

This case, installed for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, contains artifacts from that historic journey.

March 25, 2019 – March 13, 2020

Air and Space Museum

Pat Steir: Color Wheel

The Hirshhorn hosts the largest site-specific exhibition to date by the acclaimed abstract painter Pat Steir.

October 24, 2019 – March 13, 2020

Hirshhorn Museum

The Birds of America: from Original Drawings

The museum displays volume four in the Duke of Portland set of John James Audubon’s The Birds of America: from Original Drawings.

March 21, 2019 – March 13, 2020

Natural History Museum

Nature by Design: Bathing Beautiful

Nature appears throughout Cooper Hewitt’s collection of wallcoverings, which includes designs for the bathroom that beautified the appearance of this everyday domestic space.

June 8, 2019 – March 13, 2020

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

How Things Fly

This interactive gallery explains the basic principles of air and space flight through hands-on activities.

September 20, 1996 – March 13, 2020

Air and Space Museum

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

Patriot Nations tells the remarkable history of the brave American Indian and Alaska Native men and women who have served in the United States military.

May 25, 2018 – March 13, 2020

American Indian Museum New York

Nature by Design: After Icebergs

After Icebergs presents a selection of sketches and studies made by Church that document his first-hand impressions of these majestic forms of floating ice.

November 16, 2019 – March 13, 2020

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Manifesto: Art x Agency

German artist Julian Rosefeldt’s epic, multi-channel video work Manifesto serves as the centerpiece to a display of works from the Hirshhorn collection highlighting works of art created in response to, or as a part of, artistic manifestos of the past 100 years.

June 15, 2019 – March 13, 2020

Hirshhorn Museum

What Absence Is Made Of

The exhibition explores the compelling and enigmatic ways in which artists use absence—the loss of body, of physical form or of memory—as a form of artistic expression for more than 70 years.

October 19, 2017 – March 13, 2020

Hirshhorn Museum

Artists at Work

This juried exhibition, the Smithsonian Community Committee’s staff art show, underscores the often hidden talents within the Smithsonian community.

October 7, 2019 – March 13, 2020

Ripley Center

Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 Spacesuit

Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit from the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing is on display for the first time in 13 years in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11.

July 16, 2019 – March 13, 2020

Air and Space Museum