Past Exhibitions | Smithsonian Institution

Close to Home: Photographers and Their Families

This exhibition presents 32 color and black-and-white photographs from the museum's permanent collection made during the past three decades by nine established and emerging artists: Tina Barney, Virginia Beahan, Christopher Dawson, Muriel Hasbun, Martina Lopez, Elaine O'Neil, Larry Sultan, Margaret Strickland, and Carrie Will.

February 4, 2011 – July 24, 2011

American Art Museum

The Orchid in Chinese Painting

The orchid -- a symbol of friendship, loyalty, and patriotism -- is the focus of 20 Chinese paintings on view.

January 15, 2011 – July 17, 2011

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Perspectives: Lu Chunsheng

The video History of Chemistry I by renowned Chinese photographer and video artist Lu Chunsheng is on view.

March 19, 2011 – July 17, 2011

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

From Earth to the Solar System

View 30 images that make connections between our home planet and the rest of the solar system.

June 1, 2011 – July 10, 2011

Air and Space Museum

Americans Now

Drawn from the Portrait Gallery's permanent collection, this exhibition features individuals prominent in sports, entertainment, and other fields of endeavor during the last 10 years.

August 20, 2010 – July 10, 2011

Portrait Gallery

A Song for the Horse Nation

The story of the horse's influence on American Indian tribes from the 1600s to the present is depicted.

November 14, 2009 – July 7, 2011

American Indian Museum New York

Waves at Matsushima

Paintings and prints record the Bay of Matsushima, an area now substantially altered by the recent earthquake and tsunami, and pay homage to Japan,

May 28, 2011 – July 5, 2011

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Contemporary Japanese Porcelain

Twentieth-century Japanese artists give fresh interpretations to the time-honored art of porcelain.

April 25, 2005 – July 5, 2011

Asian Art Museum Sackler Gallery

Set in Style: The Jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels

Explore the historical significance of Van Cleef & Arpels's contributions to jewelry design in the 20th century with more than 350 works, including jewels, timepieces, fashion accessories, and objects d'art.

February 18, 2011 – July 4, 2011

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

This IS Hawai'i

See new and experimental works of art that explore what it means to be “Hawaiian” in the 21st century.

May 19, 2011 – July 4, 2011

American Indian Museum DC

Color Moves: Art and Fashion by Sonia Delaunay

Explore fashion and textile designs from Sonia Delaunay's Atelier Simultané in Paris in the 1920s through 1940s.

March 18, 2011 – June 19, 2011

Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Warriors: Photographs by Gertrude Käsebier

See some 60 photographs of Sioux Indians from Buffalo Bill's Wild West show taken by photographer Gertrude Käsebier (1852-1934).

April 13, 2011 – June 15, 2011

Ripley Center

Seasons: Chinese Landscapes

Explore the moods evoked in seasonal Chinese landscape paintings.

December 18, 2010 – June 12, 2011

Asian Art Museum Freer Gallery

The Art of Cards and Letters

This gallery emphasizes the art of letter writing, a cherished art form providing a window into American history.

July 30, 1993 – June 6, 2011

Postal Museum

Victory Mail

This exhibition showcases the museum's collection of World War II V-mail correspondence.

March 6, 2008 – June 6, 2011

Postal Museum

Negro Leagues Baseball Stamp Art

View original art produced for stamps paying tribute to Negro Leagues Baseball that operated from 1920 to around 1960.

October 20, 2010 – June 5, 2011

Postal Museum

SPANS: Photographs from the Esther McCoy Papers at the Archives of American Art

Artist Terence Gower uses archival photographs in the Esther McCoy Papers and his own drawings in this innovative, site-specific installation in dialogue with the glass canopy of the Kogod Courtyard.

March 9, 2011 – June 5, 2011

Archives of American Art

The International Sweethearts of Rhythm

On view are archival materials related to the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, the world’s first integrated all-female big band.

March 29, 2011 – May 31, 2011

American History Museum

Abraham Lincoln: An Extraordinary Life

Explore the life and legacy of our 16th president through objects from the museum's collection.

January 16, 2009 – May 30, 2011

American History Museum

One Life: Katharine Graham

The exhibition narrates key moments in the Washington Post publisher's extraordinary life during extraordinary times.

October 1, 2010 – May 30, 2011

Portrait Gallery

Beyond the Limits: Flight Enters the Computer Age

The gallery illustrates how the electronic computer has revolutionized aerospace engineering, aviation, and spaceflight.

May 12, 1989 – May 23, 2011

Air and Space Museum

Blinky Palermo: Retrospective 1964-1977

This exhibition is the first survey of artworks in the United States by postwar German painter Blinky Palermo.

February 24, 2011 – May 15, 2011

Hirshhorn Museum

Alexis Rockman: A Fable for Tomorrow

This first major survey of the work of Alexis Rockman (b. 1962) features approximately 50 paintings and works on paper to trace the artist's development from the mid-1980s to the present.

November 19, 2010 – May 8, 2011

American Art Museum

Beyond: Visions of Our Solar System

View some 148 images of the Sun, the planets, and their moons taken over the last 50 years by unmanned robotic space probes.

May 26, 2010 – May 2, 2011

Air and Space Museum

The Kinsey Collection: Shared Treasures of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey; Where Art and History Intersect

Over 100 artifacts spanning some 400 years dating from the early 1600s illustrate the hardships and triumphs of the African American experience.

October 15, 2010 – May 1, 2011

American History Museum