Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

A Perfect Harmony: American Art

Juxtaposing American and Asian art is a legacy of the founder of our museum, Detroit industrialist Charles Lang Freer. He believed in a universal language of beauty that resonated across time, space, and cultural diversity.

October 14, 2017 – April 15, 2019

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

The Peacock Room Comes to America

Whistler’s extravagant interior has been on permanent display since the Freer Gallery of Art opened January 1, 1923.

October 14, 2017 – January 2, 2019

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

For Love of Place: Japanese Screens

On view during spring and summer, this gallery’s selection of snow-themed paintings suggests one way that these works may have been used: to create an ambience of heat-deflecting cool.

May 5, 2018 – November 4, 2018

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Spreading the Word: Buddhist Art in Japan

This exhibition highlights a few of the devout Buddhists who were revered for their roles as teachers, scholars, and patrons of Buddhism in Japan.

May 18, 2018 – November 4, 2018

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

In the Shadow of an Apocalypse: Buddhist Art in Japan

Whether painted or sculpted, Buddhist works reassured believers with visions of compassionate protectors and fierce guardians.

October 14, 2017 – October 28, 2018

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

The Beginnings of Buddhism in Japan: Buddhist Art in Japan

The two objects in this exhibition exemplify the birth of Buddhism in Japan. In 552, the Korean kingdom of Baekje sent the Japanese court sacred texts (sutras) and a gilt bronze sculpture, thought to be similar to the one on view.

October 14, 2017 – October 28, 2018

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

The Power of Words in an Age of Crisis: Buddhist Art in Japan

In Buddhism, the most powerful of all texts were the canonical scriptures known as sutras.

October 14, 2017 – May 6, 2018

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Ancient and Alive: Japan's Native Gods: Japanese Screens

The screens in this gallery depict celebrations during the Edo period (1615–1868), when their festivals were enjoyed by a broad sector of Japanese society.

October 14, 2017 – April 29, 2018

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Bold and Beautiful: Rinpa in Japanese Art

This exhibition features works by Korin, his brother Ogata Kenzan (1663-1743), and later artists inspired by the brilliant simplicity of Rinpa design.

June 28, 2015 – January 3, 2016

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

The Nile and Ancient Egypt

Exceptional artifacts evoke the power and enduring fascination with the Nile River.

December 7, 2013 – January 3, 2016

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Cranes and Clouds: The Korean Art of Ceramic Inlay

See how the distinctive Korean ceramic decoration technique sanggam evolved—that made stamped or carved motifs appear to float within a limpid green glaze.

November 5, 2011 – January 3, 2016

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Japanese Screens

View a selection of Japanese screens from the nearly 200 screens held by the Freer Gallery.

May 9, 1993 – January 3, 2016

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Chinese Ceramics: 13th-14th Century

A dozen Chinese ceramics from the Freer collection show highlights of Yuan ceramic styles.

December 20, 2014 – January 3, 2016

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Freer & Whistler: Points of Contact

Some 23 oil paintings represent a choice selection of the more than 1,300 paintings, prints, and drawings by Whistler from the gallery's collection.

February 23, 2008 – January 3, 2016

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Promise of Paradise: Early Chinese Buddhist Sculpture

Learn about early Buddhist sculptures in China during the Tang dynasty through 28 objects that are on view.

December 1, 2012 – January 3, 2016

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Arts of the Islamic World

The works on view here represent the three principal media for artistic expression in the Islamic world: architecture, the arts of the book, and the arts of the object.

May 3, 1998 – January 3, 2016

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Ancient Chinese Jades and Bronzes

More than 100 of the Freer's jades and bronzes—among the greatest treasures of Chinese art outside China—are on view.

November 20, 2010 – January 3, 2016

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Enigmas: The Art of Bada Shanren (1626-1705)

Featured in this exhibition are examples of Shanren's most daring and idiosyncratic works, demonstrating his unique visual vocabulary.

June 20, 2015 – January 3, 2016

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

The Peacock Room Comes to America

Restored to its appearance in 1908, the Peacock Room's special exhibition highlights "points of contacts" between American and Asian art.

April 9, 2011 – January 3, 2016

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Silk Road Luxuries from China

View exceptional examples of tableware and other functional objects crafted by Chinese artisans, who were influenced by new techniques and materials used in goods traded along the Silk Road.

November 5, 2011 – January 3, 2016

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Arts of the Indian Subcontinent and the Himalayas

This exhibition showcases the extraordinary range of South Asian and Himalayan art.

October 16, 2004 – January 3, 2016

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Fine Impressions: Whistler, Freer, and Venice

In 1887, museum founder Charles Lang Freer purchased the entire Second Venice Set, twenty-six atmospheric etchings by James McNeill Whistler.

October 18, 2014 – November 1, 2015

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Seasonal Landscapes in Japanese Screens

Cherry trees bloom in this selection of folding screen paintings from the Freer Gallery. These landscapes from the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries combine ink painting techniques assimilated from China with the vibrant color and gold of traditional Japanese painting in a new style and grand scale.

March 7, 2015 – September 7, 2015

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Zen, Tea, and Chinese Art in Medieval Japan

In this exhibition, Chinese and Japanese paintings, lacquer ware, and ceramics illuminate this remarkable period of cultural contact and synthesis.

December 13, 2014 – June 14, 2015

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

Oribe Ware: Color and Pattern Come to Japanese Ceramics

This exhibition highlights the best selections of Oribe ware in the Freer's collection, including two new acquisitions on view for the first time.

December 13, 2014 – June 14, 2015

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery