Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Nomads and Networks: The Ancient Art and Culture of Kazakhstan

Devoted entirely to the nomadic culture of ancient Kazakhstan, this landmark exhibition dispels the notion that nomadic societies are less developed than sedentary ones through more than 150 objects, many never before shown in the United States.

August 11, 2012 – December 2, 2012

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Inuit Art, Culture, and Environment

See drawings, prints, tapestries, and photographs that depict the environment and culture of the Inuit.

October 19, 2012 – December 2, 2012

Ripley Center

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

The Six Degrees of Peggy Bacon

See how many degrees separate illustrator Peggy Bacon and others in the art world in this exhibition.

June 27, 2012 – November 25, 2012

Archives of American Art

AirCraft: The Jet as Art

Jeffery Milstein's supersized images of aircraft in flight transform aviation technology into fine art.

November 25, 2011 – November 25, 2012

Air and Space Museum

Julia Child's Kitchen

See Julia Child's kitchen, which contains hundreds of tools, appliances, and furnishings arranged exactly as they were when she donated the kitchen to the museum in 2001.

August 15, 2012 – November 19, 2012

American History Museum

More Than Meets the Eye

In this photography exhibition, learn how museum scientists examine the world’s diversity of life and culture up close.

July 23, 2011 – November 4, 2012

Natural History Museum

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

Pause and Play: A Pop-Up Gallery

See popular culture items from the 1950s and early 1960s.

May 1, 2012 – October 25, 2012

American History Museum

Invention Case: Hot Spot of Invention

This case highlights how MIT became a "hot spot of invention" as World War II neared.

November 6, 2009 – October 21, 2012

American History Museum

Musical Instruments Gallery

The Musical Instruments Gallery presents samples of instruments and music relating to the history, performance styles and techniques of European and American music and the development of musical instruments dating from the 17th century.

January 1, 1964 – October 21, 2012

American History Museum

Decorated Musical Instruments

See decorated musical instruments from the museum's collection.

August 9, 2012 – October 21, 2012

American History Museum

1939

This small exhibition reveals how Americans used entertainment to distract themselves during a turbulent year when the country was recovering from the Great Depression and World War II loomed -- 1939.

November 24, 2010 – October 21, 2012

American History Museum

Pushing Boundaries: Portraits by Robert Weingarten

View Robert Weingarten's photo biographies, which are composites of images that his subjects have identified as representing who they are.

July 2, 2012 – October 14, 2012

Ripley Center

Slavery at Jefferson's Monticello: Paradox of Liberty

Learn about slavery in America through the lives of six slave families living at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello plantation.

January 27, 2012 – October 14, 2012

American History Museum

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

Black Box: Jeroen Eisinga

Watch Jeroen Eisinga's Springtime (2009–11), in which he is enveloped by bees.

June 28, 2012 – October 14, 2012

Hirshhorn Museum

IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas

This exhibition explores the cultural integration and diffusion of African American and American Indian people, especially those of blended heritage.

February 9, 2012 – October 1, 2012

American Indian Museum New York

The Art of Video Games

In this exhibition, the museum is the first to comprehensively examine the evolution of video games as an artistic medium.

March 16, 2012 – September 30, 2012

American Art Museum

Against All Odds: Rescue at the Chilean Mine

See the actual rescue capsule used to rescue the 33 Chilean miners trapped underground for two months in 2010.

August 5, 2011 – September 30, 2012

Natural History Museum

We Are Here! Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship

Paintings, photos, installation art, videos and sculpture reveal the issues, concerns, and methods of leading contemporary Native artists.

June 2, 2012 – September 23, 2012

American Indian Museum New York

Worlds within Worlds: Imperial Paintings from India and Iran

See 50 of the finest folios and paintings from the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery collections, which form one of the world's most important repositories of Mughal and Persian paintings.

July 28, 2012 – September 16, 2012

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Neil Armstrong's Visor and Gloves

See the visor and gloves astronaut Neil Armstrong wore when he walked on the moon.

September 5, 2012 – September 12, 2012

Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center

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