Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

One Life: Martin Luther King Jr.

Trace the trajectory of Martin Luther King Jr.’s career, from his rise to prominence as the leader of the national civil rights movement to his work as an anti-war activist and advocate for those living in poverty.

June 28, 2013 – June 1, 2014

Portrait Gallery

In Memoriam: Mickey Rooney

See a portrait of award-winning actor Mickey Rooney.

April 9, 2014 – May 28, 2014

Portrait Gallery

Yousuf Karsh: American Portraits, Part I

Photographic portraits by Yousuf Karsh (1908–2002) include those of Georgia O’Keeffe, Jonas Salk, Marian Anderson, Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Arden, I. M. Pei, Isamu Noguchi, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

November 8, 2013 – April 27, 2014

Portrait Gallery

In Memoriam: Pete Seeger

View a photograph of American musician and social activist Pete Seeger (1919-2014) taken by Sid Grossman in the late 1940s.

January 28, 2014 – March 3, 2014

Portrait Gallery

Bound for Freedom's Light: African Americans and the Civil War

Images from the museum's collection are used to explore the roles individual African Americans played during the Civil War.

February 1, 2013 – March 2, 2014

Portrait Gallery

Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2013

The National Portrait Gallery presents 48 finalists' works that were selected from the third triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition.

March 23, 2013 – February 23, 2014

Portrait Gallery

Mr. TIME: Portraits by Boris Chaliapin

See 26 portraits by Time magazine’s most prolific artist, Boris Chaliapin.

May 17, 2013 – January 5, 2014

Portrait Gallery

Recent Acquisitions

See works recently aquired by the museum.

November 9, 2012 – October 27, 2013

Portrait Gallery

A Will of Their Own: Judith Sargent Murray and Women of Achievement in the Early Republic

Learn about the achievements of women in the late 18th century and see portraits of eight prominent American women of the period.

April 20, 2012 – September 2, 2013

Portrait Gallery

Portraiture Now: Drawing on the Edge

Explore the boundaries that once defined drawing and portraiture through the works of contemporary artists.

November 16, 2012 – August 18, 2013

Portrait Gallery

Ambrotypes from the National Portrait Gallery

Ambrotypes from the museum's collection include personalities from the Civil War era.

May 25, 2012 – June 2, 2013

Portrait Gallery

One Life: Amelia Earhart

Portraits of aviator Amelia Earhart tell the story of her career and pay special attention to her work on behalf of women's rights.

June 29, 2012 – May 27, 2013

Portrait Gallery

Poetic Likeness: Modern American Poets

Learn about the contribution of poetry in American literature through portraits of and quotations by such poets as Walt Whitman, Ezra Pound, Langston Hughes, and Allen Ginsberg.

October 12, 2012 – April 28, 2013

Portrait Gallery

Portraits of President Barack Obama

See two tapestry portraits of President Barack Obama by Chuck Close.

January 15, 2013 – February 25, 2013

Portrait Gallery

1812: A Nation Emerges

Learn about key people who influenced the outcome of the War of 1812, which transformed and unified the United States.

June 15, 2012 – January 27, 2013

Portrait Gallery

The Confederate Sketches of Adalbert Volck

View some of German immigrant Adalbert J. Volck's pictorial propaganda in support of the Confederacy.

March 30, 2012 – January 21, 2013

Portrait Gallery

Juliette Gordon Low and the 100th Anniversary of Girl Scouts

Celebrate the centennial of the Girl Scouts of the United States, founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912. The Girl Scouts has grown from 18 members in 1912 to 3.3 million today.

January 13, 2012 – January 6, 2013

Portrait Gallery

Portrait of Alice Waters

See Dave Woody's portrait of chef Alice Waters, founder of the restaurant Chez Panisse and the Edible Schoolyard and champion of the Slow Food Movement.

January 21, 2012 – November 30, 2012

Portrait Gallery

Recent Acquisitions

See 40 new objects the museum acquired from 2007 to 2011.

November 18, 2011 – November 4, 2012

Portrait Gallery

In Memoriam: Neil Armstrong

See a portraits of Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon.

August 30, 2012 – November 4, 2012

Portrait Gallery

Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits of Encounter

Seven artists from across the country offer provocative artistic responses to the Asian experience in America and the meaning of being Asian American.

August 12, 2011 – October 14, 2012

Portrait Gallery

In Vibrant Color: Vintage Celebrity Portraits from the Harry Warnecke Studio

Some of the first celebrity photographs to appear in color were created by Harry Warnecke in the 1930s for the New York Daily News. See 24 of Warnecke's celebrity portraits from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.

March 2, 2012 – September 9, 2012

Portrait Gallery