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  7. National Portrait Gallery
Portrait Gallery

National Portrait Gallery

Hours

clock

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

Location

location

8th and G Streets, NW
Washington, DC

map View Floor Plan , download pdf download

ticket Free, no passes needed

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About

With visual arts, performing arts, and new media, the National Portrait Gallery introduces you to the people who have shaped the country—poets, presidents, actors, activists, visionaries, villains...and everyone in between. Its collection weaves together story and biography from precolonial times to the present to tell the American story. The National Portrait Gallery shares its magnificent National Historic Landmark building with the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Highlights

America’s Presidents, the nation’s only complete collection of presidential portraits outside the White House; workshops and programs for young people; the Kogod Courtyard.

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 Metrorail 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 Museum Shop features a variety of distinctive objects inspired by popular works from the museum’s permanent collection as well as works from special exhibitions. If you can't or don't feel like coming in person, shop online!

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: NPGAccess@si.edu or call 202.633.8300

  • My Visit

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    Portrait of a Nation: 2025 Honorees Added

    Portrait of a Nation: 2025 Honorees Removed

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    Portrait of a Nation: 2025 Honorees

    See the most recent recipients of the Portrait of a Nation Awards, which honors extraordinary individuals who have made transformative contributions to the United States and its people.

    December 12, 2025 – November 15, 2026

    Portrait Gallery

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    American Winners: Athletes and Entertainers Who Shaped the Nation Added

    American Winners: Athletes and Entertainers Who Shaped the Nation Removed

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    American Winners: Athletes and Entertainers Who Shaped the Nation

    This exhibition salutes a diverse array of athletes and entertainers by presenting more than fifty works from the permanent collection.

    September 26, 2025 – September 7, 2026

    Portrait Gallery

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    From Shadow to Substance: Grand-Scale Portraits During Photography’s Formative Years Added

    From Shadow to Substance: Grand-Scale Portraits During Photography’s Formative Years Removed

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    From Shadow to Substance: Grand-Scale Portraits During Photography’s Formative Years

    This exhibition traces the evolution of the grand-scale, whole-plate photograph format from the high-end daguerreotype to the more affordable tintype.

    June 20, 2025 – June 14, 2026

    Portrait Gallery

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    Meserve Collection Highlights: Modern Prints from Mathew Brady’s Portrait Negatives Added

    Meserve Collection Highlights: Modern Prints from Mathew Brady’s Portrait Negatives Removed

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    Meserve Collection Highlights: Modern Prints from Mathew Brady’s Portrait Negatives

    The exhibition includes nine modern prints from Photographer Mathew Brady's original photographic negatives.

    May 23, 2025 – May 14, 2028

    Portrait Gallery

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    Star Power: Photographs from Hollywood’s Golden Age by George Hurrell Added

    Star Power: Photographs from Hollywood’s Golden Age by George Hurrell Removed

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    Star Power: Photographs from Hollywood’s Golden Age by George Hurrell

    George Hurrell created definitive, timeless images of many of the most glamorous figures of filmdom’s golden era.

    March 1, 2024 – January 25, 2026

    Portrait Gallery

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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 interweaves period reenactments across five screens to create a vivid picture of Frederick Douglass.

    December 8, 2023 – August 9, 2026

    Portrait Gallery

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    Abraham Lincoln by W.F.K. Travers Added

    Abraham Lincoln by W.F.K. Travers Removed

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    Abraham Lincoln by W.F.K. Travers

    The life size portrait of Abraham Lincoln by W.F.K. Travers joins the America's Presidents exhibition. 

    February 10, 2023 – December 31, 2027

    Portrait Gallery

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    America's Presidents Added

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    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

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    Explore! with the National Portrait Gallery Added

    Explore! with the National Portrait Gallery Removed

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    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

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    The Struggle for Justice Added

    The Struggle for Justice Removed

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    The Struggle for Justice

    This exhibition showcases major cultural and political figures who struggled to achieve civil rights for disenfranchised or marginalized groups.

    February 12, 2010 – Permanent

    Portrait Gallery

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    Twentieth-Century Americans Added

    Twentieth-Century Americans Removed

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    Twentieth-Century Americans

    Four galleries showcase the major cultural, scientific, and political figures of the 20th century.

    July 1, 2006 – Permanent

    Portrait Gallery

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    Out of Many: Portraits from 1600 to 1900 Added

    Out of Many: Portraits from 1600 to 1900 Removed

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    Out of Many: Portraits from 1600 to 1900

    Portraits of Indigenous Americans, European colonists, clergymen, soldiers, writers, performers, scientists, and others who helped shape the country. 

    July 1, 2006 – Permanent

    Portrait Gallery

  • View all Portrait Gallery exhibitions arrow-right

George Washington (Lansdowne Portrait)

Barack Obama

Alexander Hamilton

Thelonious Monk

Pocahontas

Jimi Hendrix

Anna May Wong

Frederick Douglass

Ted Turner

John Brown

Abraham Lincoln

Duke Ellington

Marian Anderson

Barbra Streisand

John Waters

Jim Brown

Shawn Carter, or Jay-Z

LeBron James

Mary McLeod Bethune

The Four Justices

Joan Baez

Martin Luther King Jr.

Jack Nicklaus

Marilyn Monroe

Edith Wharton

Kicking Bird

Men of Progress

Mary Cassatt

e.e. cummings Self-Portrait

Steve Jobs

Isamu Noguchi

Juliette Gordon Low

W. E. B. Du Bois

James Baldwin

Samuel Clemens


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