Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

"Horse" by Deborah Butterfield

See Deborah Butterfield's sculpture Horse, a work in wire and steel.

December 1, 1985 – April 30, 1986

Hirshhorn Museum

"The Eight" and the Independent Tradition in American Art

Celebrate the 75th anniversary of the legendary Eight exhibition, America's first organized assault on academic art.

January 13, 1983 – March 15, 1983

Hirshhorn Museum

14 Canadians: A Critic's Choice

Visit an exhibition of 42 recent works by 13 painters and one sculptor that is being held in conjunction with a Symposium on 20th century Canadian culture.

February 3, 1977 – April 10, 1977

Hirshhorn Museum

20th-Century Drawings from the Museum's Collection

This installation of 30 works on paper includes works by Willem de Kooning, Arshile Gorky, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and Larry Rivers.

April 1, 1985 – June 6, 1985

Hirshhorn Museum

A New Romanticism: Sixteen Artists from Italy

On loan are approximately 46 works, primarily paintings, by 16 artists, that focus on an influential direction in Italian art today -- the new mystical or metaphysical painting.

October 3, 1985 – January 5, 1986

Hirshhorn Museum

A Quiet Revolution: British Sculpture Since 1965

This exhibition is the first in North America to examine the influential role of recent British sculpture in international art.

November 10, 1987 – January 10, 1988

Hirshhorn Museum

A Window Suddenly Opens: Contemporary Photography in China

A Window Suddenly Opens is the Hirshhorn’s first survey of photography by leading multigenerational Chinese artists made between the 1990s and 2000s.

November 4, 2022 – January 7, 2024

Hirshhorn Museum

Abigail DeVille: Light of Freedom

Abigail DeVille's 13-foot-tall sculpture responds to the Black Lives Matter movement within the larger context of America's long relationship to the idea of liberty itself.

October 15, 2021 – July 26, 2022

Hirshhorn Museum

Acquisitions: 1974-1977

See paintings, sculptures and works on paper that represent the works acquired for the collection through gifts and purchases.

March 25, 1977 – July 24, 1977

Hirshhorn Museum

African Sculpture

On display are 17 sculptures from Benin, mostly in bronze, dating from 16th-19th centuries.

August 1, 1980 – September 30, 1980

Hirshhorn Museum

Ai Weiwei: According to What?

This major solo exhibition of works by Chinese conceptual artist Ai Weiwei introduces viewers to his broad spectrum of artistic practice.

October 7, 2012 – February 24, 2013

Hirshhorn Museum

Ai Weiwei: Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads

See Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's monumental outdoor installation showcasing the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac.

April 19, 2012 – March 17, 2013

Hirshhorn Museum

Ai Weiwei: Trace at Hirshhorn

A display of Ai Weiwei's monumental Lego-constructed work along with other new pieces in the Hirshhorn's uninterrupted 3rd Floor galleries.

June 28, 2017 – January 1, 2018

Hirshhorn Museum

Alberto Giacometti: 1901-1966

The exhibition surveys the Swiss-born artist's work from 1921 through 1965 in the first major U.S. retrospective in 15 years.

September 15, 1988 – November 13, 1988

Hirshhorn Museum

Alexandra Exter: Marionettes

On view are approximately 15 marionettes and about 15 stage and costume designs (gouaches and hand-colored prints) by the Constructivist artist.

April 17, 1980 – July 6, 1980

Hirshhorn Museum

Alfred H. Maurer: The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Collection

View 16 works by the American modernist (1868-1932) that show the range of the artist's style, from early Whistlerian portraits through the expressive figure studies and cubist abstractions of the 1920s and early 1930s.

May 9, 1979 – August 12, 1979

Hirshhorn Museum

Alfred Leslie

View an exhibition of monumental figurative works, including 11 large oil paintings and a small selection of drawings assembled especially for HMSG by the show's organizer, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

November 11, 1976 – January 9, 1977

Hirshhorn Museum

Alfredo Jaar Works

A serene museum ambience is juxtaposed with disturbing images of victims from the Persian Gulf War in this site-specific project by this Chilean-born artist.

November 7, 1991 – March 29, 1992

Hirshhorn Museum

Allegories and Fantasies

See works on paper from the HMSG collections.

January 1, 1986 – March 31, 1986

Hirshhorn Museum

American Collages from the Permanent Collection

View collages, mostly from the 1960s, by such artists as Joseph Cornell, Romare Bearden, and Robert Motherwell.

May 24, 1990 – September 23, 1990

Hirshhorn Museum

Ana Mendieta: Earth Body, Sculpture and Performance 1972-1985

Survey the work of Mendieta, celebrated for using her body to explore issues of gender and identity. Mature audiences.

October 14, 2004 – January 2, 2005

Hirshhorn Museum

Andre Masson: Prints from the Museum Collection

View 34 works by the surrealist French artist, born in 1896. Included are etchings, lithographs, and drypoints from the HMSG Collection, primarily from the 1950s.

October 16, 1980 – February 22, 1981

Hirshhorn Museum

Andy Warhol: Shadows

Take this rare opportunity to see Andy Warhol's Shadows—102 large paintings extending almost 450 linear feet—in its entirety.

September 25, 2011 – January 15, 2012

Hirshhorn Museum

Ann Hamilton/Kathryn Clark Works

A site-specific installation, View, covers the Hirshhorn's third floor ambulatory and Lerner Room windows with a skin-like grid of translucent, amber-toned wax sheets (12" x 16"), each naming an extinct animal or plant.

March 20, 1991 – June 23, 1991

Hirshhorn Museum

Anne Truitt: Perception and Reflection

This is the first major survey spanning Anne Truitt's 40-year career since her death in 2004.

October 8, 2009 – January 3, 2010

Hirshhorn Museum