Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Always to Return

Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Always to Return focuses on the artist’s deep engagement with portraiture and the construction of identity, as well as how history is told and inherited.

October 18, 2024 – July 6, 2025

Portrait Gallery

Picturing the Presidents: Daguerreotypes and Ambrotypes from the National Portrait Gallery’s Collection

To mark the presidential election of 2024, this exhibition presents daguerreotype and ambrotype portraits of eight men–from John Quincy Adams to Chester Arthur–who held the nation’s highest office during the nineteenth century.

May 31, 2024 – June 8, 2025

Portrait Gallery

Powerful Partnerships: Civil War-Era Couples

This exhibition sheds light on the stories and faces of five couples whose work and lives shaped the nation around them during tumultuous times.

July 1, 2022 – May 18, 2025

Portrait Gallery

This Morning, This Evening, So Soon: James Baldwin and the Voices of Queer Resistance

Viewing Baldwin in the context of his community reveals how his sexuality, faith, artistic curiosities, and notions of masculinity helped define his writing and long-lasting legacy.

July 12, 2024 – April 20, 2025

Portrait Gallery

Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900–1939

Brilliant Exiles illuminates the accomplishments of sixty unconventional women who pursued their personal and professional aspirations in Paris.

April 26, 2024 – February 23, 2025

Portrait Gallery

Inauguration 2025: Donald J. Trump

A photograph of President-elect Donald J. Trump is displayed to coincide with the 60th presidential inauguration Jan. 20.

January 13, 2025 – February 11, 2025

Portrait Gallery

Commissioned Portrait of Oprah Winfrey

Chicago-based artist Shawn Michael Warren painted Winfrey in a purple taffeta dress amidst a lush garden at her California home.

December 13, 2023 – December 15, 2024

Portrait Gallery

Forces of Nature: Voices that Shaped Environmentalism

View some of the key people whose work has influenced attitudes toward the environment in the United States from the late 19th century until today.

October 20, 2023 – September 2, 2024

Portrait Gallery

Duty, Honor, Country: Antebellum Portraits of West Pointers

This exhibition features early camera portraits of individuals drawn exclusively from the Portrait Gallery’s collection of daguerreotypes, ambrotypes and tintypes.

June 23, 2023 – May 19, 2024

Portrait Gallery

One Life: Frederick Douglass

This exhibition illuminates the legacy of Frederick Douglass through prints, photographs, and ephemera.

June 16, 2023 – April 21, 2024

Portrait Gallery

1898: U.S. Imperial Visions and Revisions

The first exhibition to examine this pivotal period during the Spanish-American-Cuban-Philippine War through the lens of portraiture and visual culture.

April 28, 2023 – February 25, 2024

Portrait Gallery

Kinship

Kinship presents more than forty artworks by eight contemporary artists whose work explores the notion of “kinship” and the closeness that bonds us.

October 28, 2022 – January 7, 2024

Portrait Gallery

In Memoriam: Rosalynn Carter, 1927–2023

Rosalynn Carter was the first lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981.

November 21, 2023 – January 3, 2024

Portrait Gallery

Portrait of a Nation: 2022 Honorees

This intimate exhibition features the portraits of the seven individuals who have been selected to receive one of the museum’s 2022 Portrait of a Nation Awards.

November 10, 2022 – October 22, 2023

Portrait Gallery

Block by Block: Naming Washington

Explore the namesakes of Washington, D.C.’s streets, avenues, neighborhoods, and other public spaces.

July 30, 2021 – October 22, 2023

Portrait Gallery

I Dream a World: Selections from Brian Lanker's Portraits of Remarkable Black Women: Part II

The Portrait Gallery recently acquired all 75 portraits from the Pulitzer-Prize winning photographer’s series and is celebrating the acquisition with a two-part exhibition.

February 10, 2023 – September 10, 2023

Portrait Gallery

Family Ties: Daguerreotype Portraits

The portraits in this exhibition reflect the range of familial relationships documented by the camera during the daguerreian era.

July 1, 2022 – June 11, 2023

Portrait Gallery

One Life: Maya Lin

One Life: Maya Lin is the first biographical exhibition of the architect, sculptor, and environmentalist.

September 30, 2022 – April 16, 2023

Portrait Gallery

Teen Portrait Competition, 2022

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery is proud to present the winners and finalists of the 2022 Teen Portrait Competition!

July 29, 2022 – February 26, 2023

Portrait Gallery

The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today

Every three years, artists living and working in the United States are invited to submit one of their recent portraits to a panel of experts chosen by the museum.

April 30, 2022 – February 26, 2023

Portrait Gallery

I Dream a World: Selections from Brian Lanker’s Portraits of Remarkable Black Women: Part I

This exhibition features more than 25 photographs by Brian Lanker, the Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer.

July 8, 2022 – January 29, 2023

Portrait Gallery

Recent Acquisitions: Gifts from the Corcoran Gallery of Art

This exhibition presents more than 25 gifted works, including portraits of cultural figures Louis Armstrong, Katharine Graham, and Frida Kahlo; presidents James Madison and Zachary Taylor; and the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Joseph Henry.

October 9, 2020 – October 23, 2022

Portrait Gallery

Watergate: Portraiture and Intrigue

On the fiftieth anniversary of the Watergate break-in, this exhibition from the National Portrait Gallery's collection, brings visitors face-to-face with the scandal's cast of characters.

March 25, 2022 – September 5, 2022

Portrait Gallery

Hung Liu: Portraits of Promised Lands, 1968-2020

The National Portrait Gallery presents the first major large-scale retrospective of work by Hung Liu, the internationally acclaimed Chinese-born American artist.

August 27, 2021 – May 30, 2022

Portrait Gallery

Storied Women of the Civil War Era

This intimate exhibition includes portraits of Civil War era women who captivated the public while becoming sought-after subjects for Mathew Brady’s camera.

May 24, 2019 – March 20, 2022

Portrait Gallery