Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Sotatsu: Making Waves

Making Waves is the first in-depth examination of this major Japanese artist. The exhibition convenes for the first time more than seventy of Sotatsu’s masterpieces from collections in Japan, Europe, and the United States, along with homage pieces by later artists that demonstrate his long-ranging influence.

October 24, 2015 – January 31, 2016

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

The Modern Pueblo Paintings of Awa Tsireh

The paintings of Awa Tsireh (1898-1955), also known by his Spanish name, Alfonso Roybal, represent an encounter between the art traditions of native Pueblo peoples in the Southwestern United States and the American modernist art style begun in New York, which spread quickly across the country.

September 4, 2015 – January 31, 2016

American Art Museum

Conversations: African and African American Artworks in Dialogue

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the museum in 2014, this exhibition recognizes the museum's unique history and its contributions towards furthering meaningful dialogue between Africa and the African diaspora.

November 9, 2014 – January 24, 2016

African Art Museum

Hear My Voice: Alexander Graham Bell and the Origins of Recorded Sound

See and hear some of the earliest sound recordings ever made, by Alexander Graham Bell’s Volta Laboratory in Washington, D.C., in the 1880s.

January 26, 2015 – January 24, 2016

American History Museum

Billy Strayhorn: A Lush Life

This Archives Center case commemorates the 100th anniversary of the birth of William “Billy” Strayhorn on November 29, 1915. Drawn from several collections in the Archives Center, it examines the pros and cons of his musical partnership with Duke Ellington as well as his career apart from Ellington.

October 2, 2015 – January 18, 2016

American History Museum

Elaine de Kooning: Portraits

Elaine de Kooning’s gestural portraits of friends and family were much admired during her lifetime, and included many well-known Americans.

March 13, 2015 – January 10, 2016

Portrait Gallery

Glittering World: Navajo Jewelry of the Yazzie Family

Contemporary jewelry complemented by historic pieces from the museum's collection, illustrate the development of Navajo jewelry.

November 13, 2014 – January 10, 2016

American Indian Museum New York

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

Above and Beyond

Packed with interactive challenges this exhibition invites you to experience what it takes to make impossible dreams take flight.

August 1, 2015 – January 3, 2016

Air and Space Museum

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

Once There Were Billions: Vanished Birds of North America

The story of the last passenger pigeon and the disappearance of the great auk, Carolina parakeet, and heath hen and reveal the fragile connections between species and their environment.

June 24, 2014 – January 3, 2016

Natural History Museum

Black Box: Sergio Caballero

The exhibition consists of a single 25-minute film, “Ancha es Castilla” or “N’importe quoi” (2014). These titles loosely translate to “Anything Goes” and “Whatever,” among other renderings, but the artist prefers not to provide translations.

August 24, 2015 – January 3, 2016

Hirshhorn Museum

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

Le Onde: Waves of Italian Influence (1914-1971)

This exhibition of nearly 20 works from the museum’s collection follows Italian contributions to the transnational evolution of abstraction, through movements and tendencies such as futurism, spatialism, op art, and kinetic art.

August 22, 2015 – January 3, 2016

Hirshhorn Museum

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

Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio

Provocations is the first museum exhibition to introduce the imaginative work of British designer Thomas Heatherwick and his London-based studio to an American audience. Heatherwick is known for his unique design concepts ranging from products, infrastructure and temporary structures, such as the U.K. Pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, to, most recently, large-scale architecture projects around the world.

June 24, 2015 – January 3, 2016

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum