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American Art Museum

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Hours

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11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily
Closed Dec. 25

Location

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8th and G Streets, NW
Washington, DC

map View Floor Plan , download pdf download

ticket Free, no passes needed

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About

The nation’s first collection of American art offers an unparalleled record of the American experience, capturing the aspirations, character and imagination of the American people throughout three centuries. The museum is home to one of the largest and most inclusive collections of American art in the world, including works by such stylistically diverse luminaries as John Singleton Copley, Winslow Homer, and Georgia O’Keeffe. The museum shares its magnificent National Historic Landmark building with the National Portrait Gallery. 

Highlights

Early American Art, 19th and 20th–Century Art; Contemporary Art; Photography; Modern Folk and Self-Taught Art; African American Art; Latino Art; New Deal Art; and the Luce Foundation Center for American Art, an interactive public study center.

MetroAccess

To provide an address for MetroAccess Paratransit, please use 800 G St, NW. Please note this address is located directly across the street from the museum’s entrance.

Metrorail

Metro station: Gallery Place/Chinatown (9th Street exit); Red, Green, or Yellow line

Nearest Accessible Metro Entrance:
Gallery Place/Chinatown
NE side of 7th St., NW, between F and G St.

Check MetroRail's Elevator and Escalator Service Status page for service disruptions.

Parking

There is no public parking facility for the museum. City-operated metered parking and commercial lots are available.

View a map of accessible parking spaces.

Reserved parking near the museums can be purchased in advance through ParkWhiz.
Note: ParkWhiz is a third-party vendor (ParkWhiz Privacy Policy).

Dining

Courtyard Café
The Café offers a fresh and seasonal menu of American-inspired dishes, as well as coffee drinks, wine, beer, and desserts. Specialty sandwiches, soups, pastries, organic salads, wraps, antipasti, and organic options are all on the menu at this gorgeous, all-seasons location.
11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

For assistance with/information on group dining, please visit Group Sales.


Shopping

The SAAM Museum Store features gifts, books, jewelry, and more! The SAAM/NPG Online Museum Store is open anytime.

See Getting Here for information on accessible parking and public transportation.

Accessibility Information and Programs

  • Smithsonian accessibility for visitors
  • Museum accessibility details

Disability access service requests: SAAMaccess@si.edu

  • My Visit

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    Grandma Moses: A Good Day’s Work Added

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    Grandma Moses: A Good Day’s Work

    This exhibition introduces “Grandma” Moses to new generations and examines her legacy in the context of America today.

    November 25, 2025 – July 12, 2026

    American Art Museum

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    Shahzia Sikander: The Last Post Added

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    Shahzia Sikander: The Last Post

    Through precisely inked and animated scenes, this video artwork critically considers the legacy of British colonialism in Asia.

    July 3, 2025 – July 12, 2026

    American Art Museum

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    Glenn Kaino: Bridge Added

    Glenn Kaino: Bridge Removed

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    Glenn Kaino: Bridge

    Glenn Kaino’s powerful aerial sculpture Bridge is comprised of 200 golden arms hanging from the ceiling of SAAM’s Luce Foundation Center. 

    July 26, 2024 – Ongoing

    American Art Museum

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    Isaac Julien: Lessons of the Hour—Frederick Douglass Added

    Isaac Julien: Lessons of the Hour—Frederick Douglass Removed

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    Isaac Julien: Lessons of the Hour—Frederick Douglass

    Sir Isaac Julien’s moving image installation Lessons of the Hour (2019) interweaves period reenactments across five screens to create a vivid picture of nineteenth-century activist, writer, orator, and philosopher Frederick Douglass.

    December 8, 2023 – August 9, 2026

    American Art Museum

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    Galleries for Modern and Contemporary Art Added

    Galleries for Modern and Contemporary Art Removed

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    Galleries for Modern and Contemporary Art

    The museum's permanent collection freshly examines the explosion of possibility in American art between the 1940s and today.

    September 22, 2023 – Ongoing

    American Art Museum

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    Artist to Artist Added

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    Artist to Artist

    Paired artworks, each representing two figures whose trajectories intersected at a creatively crucial moment.

    October 1, 2021 – August 2, 2026

    American Art Museum

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    Folk and Self-Taught Art Added

    Folk and Self-Taught Art Removed

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    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

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    Experience America Added

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    Experience America

    Through New Deal programs, the federal government paid artists to paint and sculpt and urged them to look to the nation’s land and people for subjects.

    August 14, 2014 – Ongoing

    American Art Museum

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    Luce Foundation Center for American Art Added

    Luce Foundation Center for American Art Removed

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    Luce Foundation Center for American Art

    The first visible art storage and study center in Washington showcases more than 3,300 artworks from the museum's permanent collection.

    July 1, 2006 – Permanent

    American Art Museum

  • View all American Art Museum exhibitions arrow-right

Mrs. George Watson

The Magic Room

Stu-mick-o-súcks, Buffalo Bull's Back Fat, Head Chief, Blood Tribe

Cape Cod Morning

The Eclipse

Maesta

Manhattan

Going to Church

Among the Sierra Nevada, California

Confrontation

Untitled, Bronx Storefront, "La Rumba Supermarket"

Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii

THE LORD WILL DELIVER HIS PEOPLE ACROSS JORDAN

State Names

Modern Head

Grey Sun

Neapolitan Meringue

Radiante

Triumph of the Egg

Wild West

Sin Título, from the series La Tempestad

View of Artist's Home

Elizabeth Winthrop Chanler (Mrs. John Jay Chapman)

Landscape with Sheep

Nude with Guitar

42nd St. Nocturne

For SAAM

(Underpass--New York)

Subway

The Friction Disappears

Woman Eating

Preamble

Reservoir

Santa Barbara

Amendment #8

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