Current Exhibitions

My Visit

Floral Fashions: From Bouquets to Buttonholes

On display are over a dozen bouquet holders worn for both function and fashion by women during the Victorian era.

November 22, 2019 – Permanent

Ripley Center
My Visit

The David H. Koch Hall of Fossils—Deep Time

Learn how life on Earth evolved and see highlights from the museum's unrivaled collection of 46 million fossils.

June 8, 2019 – Permanent

Natural History Museum
My Visit

Mega-toothed Shark

Come face-to-face with a 52-foot-long model of a female mega-toothed shark suspended above our new dining area.

May 24, 2019 – Permanent

Natural History Museum
My Visit

Ancestral Connections

Ancestral Connections explores how ten contemporary artists draw on aspects of their heritage—sometimes combined with personal experiences or tribal history—to create new and compelling works of art.

May 4, 2019 – Ongoing

American Indian Museum New York
My Visit

Naked Mole-Rats on the Move

The naked mole-rats at the National Zoo are having a blast in their new, multistory habitat with more than 25 feet of connecting tunnels.

September 1, 2018 – Permanent

National Zoo
My Visit

Americans

American Indians represent less than 1 percent of the U.S. population, yet names and images of Indians are everywhere. Americans invites visitors to ask why.

January 18, 2018 – Indefinitely

American Indian Museum DC
My Visit

The Garden Lounge

The Garden Lounge serves as a welcoming interior garden rest and recharge area for visitors featuring live plants and a relaxing atmosphere.

November 16, 2017 – Indefinitely

Natural History Museum
My Visit

Mark Bradford: Pickett's Charge

The exhibtion forms a monumental circular “cyclorama” that transforms historic Gettysburg imagery into a series of eight powerful, abstract paintings.

November 8, 2017 – Ongoing

Hirshhorn Museum
My Visit

Visionary: Viewpoints on Africa's Arts

Visionary offers broad thematic connections between works from across the spectrum of times, places, and media represented in the museum’s holdings.

November 4, 2017 – Permanent

African Art Museum
My Visit

Setting the Bar: Arts of the Song Dynasty

Elegance and refinement in form, line, and color characterize the visual arts of China during the Song dynasty. As new technology enhanced ceramic production and the number of kilns rose, fresh approaches to decoration developed.

October 14, 2017 – Indefinitely

Asian Art Museum, West Building
My Visit

Promise of Paradise: Ancient Chinese Buddhist Sculpture

The buddhas, bodhisattvas, and disciples in this exhibition were made to inspire and guide believers on their spiritual path. Their beauty imparted the promise of paradise.

October 14, 2017 – Indefinitely

Asian Art Museum, West Building
My Visit

Added to My Visit Removed from My Visit

Art and Industry: China's Ancient Houma Foundry: Chinese Bronzes Added

~~Art and Industry: China's Ancient Houma Foundry: Chinese Bronzes~~ Removed

View My Visit

Art and Industry: China's Ancient Houma Foundry: Chinese Bronzes

The largest bronze foundry complex from antiquity was excavated at Houma in northern China in the mid-twentieth century. At the two-acre site, archaeologists discovered evidence of extremely sophisticated manufacturing techniques.

October 14, 2017 – Indefinitely

Asian Art Museum, West Building
My Visit

Rediscovering Korea's Past: Korean Ceramics

Today we admire the translucent gray-green celadon glaze on Korean ceramics of the Goryeo period as one of the great achievements of world potters.

October 14, 2017 – Indefinitely

Asian Art Museum, West Building
My Visit

Afterlife: Ancient Chinese Jades

A construction boom in China more than a century ago resulted in new railways and factories—and the accidental discovery of scores of rich ancient cemeteries. Buried in these tombs for thousands of years were jewelry and ritual objects, all laboriously crafted from jade.

October 14, 2017 – Indefinitely

Asian Art Museum, West Building
My Visit

Looking Out, Looking In: Art in Late Imperial China

Many of the powerful emperors of China’s last dynasties—the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1912)—were patrons, collectors, and casual practitioners of the arts. They used art to legitimize and glorify their rule. It served many functions: for state rituals, for expressing piety, to dazzle palace visitors, to build diplomatic relations, and for personal pleasure.

October 14, 2017 – Indefinitely

Asian Art Museum, West Building
My Visit

Engaging the Senses: Arts of the Islamic World

Every region, province, and even city developed its own artistic language with rich sensory resonances, many of which are explored in these galleries.

October 14, 2017 – Indefinitely

Asian Art Museum, West Building
My Visit

Center of the World: China and the Silk Road

This wealthy, worldly hub offered a ready market for exotic imports that local artisans translated into a Chinese style.

October 14, 2017 – Indefinitely

Asian Art Museum, West Building
My Visit

Body Image: Arts of the Indian Subcontinent

This exhibition explores concepts and aesthetics of the body. The theme of the body provides a portal for appreciating how India’s extraordinary culture is woven from distinctive but interrelated traditions.

October 14, 2017 – Indefinitely

Asian Art Museum, West Building
My Visit

Feast Your Eyes: A Taste for Luxury in Ancient Iran

View highly sophisticated ancient Iranian metalwork ranging from deep bowls to elaborate drinking vessels to objects in gold and silver.

October 14, 2017 – Permanent

Asian Art Museum, East Building
My Visit

America's Presidents

The nation’s only complete collection of presidential portraits outside the White House tells the American story through the individuals who have shaped it.

September 22, 2017 – Permanent

Portrait Gallery
My Visit

Common Ground: Our American Garden

This exhibition shares the stories of plants and how they are important to Americans.

June 28, 2017 – Permanent

Smithsonian Gardens
My Visit

Explore! with the National Portrait Gallery

Explore! is a space where kids (ages 18 months to 8 years old accompanied by an adult) can experiment with portraiture hands-on. Hours are subject to change.

January 28, 2017 – Indefinitely

Portrait Gallery
My Visit

Added to My Visit Removed from My Visit

Clouds in a Bag: The Evelyn Way Kendall Ballooning and Early Aviation Collection Added

~~Clouds in a Bag: The Evelyn Way Kendall Ballooning and Early Aviation Collection~~ Removed

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Clouds in a Bag: The Evelyn Way Kendall Ballooning and Early Aviation Collection

The treasures in this collection provide a sense of the wonder and excitement experienced by those who witnessed the birth of flight over two centuries ago.

January 28, 2017 – Indefinitely

Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center
My Visit

Folk and Self-Taught Art

These galleries serve as a reminder that not all artists are formally trained and that the making of art is as much an act of passion as of intellect.

October 21, 2016 – Ongoing

American Art Museum
My Visit

Taking the Stage

See how African Americans transformed the ways they are represented onstage by challenging racial discrimination and stereotypes.

September 24, 2016 – Permanent

African American History and Culture Museum

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