Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Hollywood and Time: Celebrity Covers

Hollywood personalities who once graced theater marquees across America are featured in original cover art commissioned by Time magazine. Included are vintage portraits of stars, as well as Oscar-winning directors.

April 1, 2016 – September 11, 2016

Portrait Gallery

Washed Ashore: Art to Save the Sea

Experience Washed Ashore: Art to Save the Sea, a larger-than-life exhibit of 17 marine wildlife sculptures—from jellyfish to sharks—made entirely of plastic pollution directly recovered from oceans. The sculptures represent more than 315 billion pounds of plastic in oceans, illustrating the devastating effects of the ocean's deadliest predator—trash.

May 27, 2016 – September 5, 2016

National Zoo

Robert Irwin: All the Rules Will Change

Robert Irwin: All the Rules Will Change is a major exhibition by one of the leading postwar American artists. It is the first museum survey devoted to Irwin’s work in the pivotal decade of the 1960s.

April 7, 2016 – September 5, 2016

Hirshhorn Museum

Prince's "Yellow Cloud" Electric Guitar

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History recognizes the life and legacy of Prince Rogers Nelson (1958 – 2016) by displaying his “Yellow Cloud” electric guitar.

April 26, 2016 – September 5, 2016

American History Museum

Martin Puryear: Multiple Dimensions

Martin Puryear (b. 1945) is one of the leading sculptors of his generation, whose work is recognized internationally for its evocative forms and exquisite craftsmanship. The exhibition explores reoccurring forms across time and medium in Puryear’s sculptures, drawings, and prints.

May 27, 2016 – September 5, 2016

American Art Museum

Design for Small Spaces

From fairy gardens to green walls, vignettes in this exhibit feature pieces from the Smithsonian Gardens’ Garden Furnishing Collection and plants grown at the Smithsonian Gardens Greenhouses.

September 5, 2015 – August 30, 2016

Ripley Center

Continuity and Change: Fifty Years of Museum History

Explore the museum's transformation from a history and technology museum to one devoted to American history through images of key exhibitions and activities.

May 16, 2014 – August 22, 2016

American History Museum

Finding: Source Material in the Archives of American Art

In this exhibition, the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art reveals how artists find inspiration. The ways in which artists draw on source materials provides a glimpse into the twists and turns of their creative practices

April 22, 2016 – August 21, 2016

Archives of American Art

Beauty—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial

Cooper Hewitt’s renowned Triennial exhibition series showcases some of the most exciting, provocative, and innovative design created around the globe during the previous three years. The 2016 presentation will include a range of works from all areas of design including fashion, product design, interactive design, architecture, scent design, graphics and communications, and more.

February 12, 2016 – August 21, 2016

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Nature's Best Photography: Windland Smith Rice International Awards Presents: The Best of the Best

Enjoy 20 years of nature's finest moments in the "Best of the Best" photo exhibition. This collection brings dramatic landscapes, exciting wildlife behavior, and surprising glimpses of Earth's icy peaks to mysterious ocean depths.

October 24, 2015 – August 14, 2016

Natural History Museum

Pixar: The Design of Story

This exhibition examines the design process behind Pixar Animation Studios and films such as Toy Story, Wall-E, Up, Brave, The Incredibles, and Cars, among others. Focusing on the process of iteration, collaboration and research, Pixar features original artwork, including rarely seen hand-drawn sketches, paintings, and sculptures.

October 8, 2015 – August 7, 2016

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Chief S.O. Alonge: Photographer to the Royal Court of Benin, Nigeria

To celebrate the history of Nigerian photography, this exhibition focuses on the collection of Chief Solomon Osagie Alonge, one of Nigeria's premiere early photographers.

September 17, 2014 – July 31, 2016

African Art Museum

No Mountains in the Way

In the 1970s, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) conceived a series of photo survey projects, inspired by the epic documentary photography program undertaken by the federal government in the 1930s and 1940s. The installation of 63 vintage prints from this survey of 120 photographs, are all works from the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s permanent collection.

February 26, 2016 – July 31, 2016

American Art Museum

National Geographic Into Africa: The Photography of Frans Lanting

Take a personal journey into the wonders of wild Africa as seen through the lens of National Geographic photographer Frans Lanting.

June 4, 2015 – July 31, 2016

Natural History Museum

Heart of an Empire: Herzfeld's Discovery of Pasargadae

Pasargadae was the first capital of the ancient Achaemenid Persian Empire (circa 540 BCE) and the last resting place of Cyrus the Great. Featuring selections from the Freer|Sackler Archives’ rich holdings of Ernst Herzfeld’s drawings, notes, and photographs, this exhibition illuminates one of the most important sites of the ancient world.

February 13, 2016 – July 31, 2016

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Painting with Words: Gentleman Artists of the Ming Dynasty

Poetry, painting, and calligraphy: Known as the “Three Perfections,” these genres were regarded as the ultimate expressions of Chinese literati culture during the Ming dynasty (1369–1644). Painting with Words celebrates Wu School works, examining the relationship between their imagery, brushstrokes, and, especially, words.

April 16, 2016 – July 24, 2016

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Eye Pop: The Celebrity Gaze

Celebrity faces are everywhere. This exhibition questions the separate roles of subject, artist and viewer in creating and experiencing the celebrity gaze.

May 22, 2015 – July 10, 2016

Portrait Gallery

Frank Sinatra at 100

This small display showcases Frank Sinatra’s contributions to America’s songbook and film history through photographic portraits by Herman Leonard and archival photos from Director George Sidney’ s collection, sheet music, album covers, and posters.

November 20, 2015 – July 10, 2016

American History Museum

WONDER

WONDER, the opening exhibition at the newly renovated Renwick Gallery, features site-specific installations that transform the galleries into a contemporary “cabinet of wonders.”

November 13, 2015 – July 10, 2016

Renwick Gallery

In Memoriam: Muhammad Ali

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery recognizes the life and accomplishments of “The Greatest”—Muhammad Ali—with a photograph by Yousuf Karsh. The image, taken in 1970, is installed in the museum’s In Memoriam space. The Portrait Gallery has 14 images of the boxer, including a 1981 painting on the third-floor mezzanine, titled “Cat’s Cradle,” by Henry C. Casselli Jr. Media.

June 6, 2016 – July 6, 2016

Portrait Gallery

Ray Charles: The Genius

Ray Charles was one of the most innovative and influential musicians of the 20th century. This display explores his ability to overcome blindness, poverty, and segregation, as well as the musical talent and flair for performance that made him an icon of American music.

February 22, 2016 – July 4, 2016

American History Museum

The Blue Note Photographs of Francis Wolff

This Archives Center case features photographs of jazz musicians. Francis Wolff was the co-founder of Blue Note Records as well as the photographer who created most of the company’s record album cover images. Large photographic prints on display depict such luminaries as Art Blakey, Ornette Coleman, and Miles Davis in the 1950s-1960s.

April 1, 2016 – June 30, 2016

American History Museum

Milestones of Flight

This gallery features famous airplanes and spacecraft that exemplify the major achievements in the history of flight.

July 1, 1976 – June 30, 2016

Air and Space Museum

Wilderness Forever: 50 Years of Protecting America's Wild Places

See America as you've never seen it—wild, untouched, and free.

September 3, 2014 – June 13, 2016

Natural History Museum

Vietnam's Ceramics: Depth and Diversity

The twenty-three works in this exhibition reflect the wide variety of form and decoration in vessels for cooking, dining, storage, transport, and ritual. Vietnamese ceramics have been traded across Southeast Asia and to West Asia and Japan since the fourteenth century.

July 11, 2015 – June 10, 2016

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery