Exhibitions

Newsroom of the Smithsonian

View news releases below or see all of our publicly released upcoming exhibitions.

Oblong paper craft with lime green feathers fanning out of the top.
Paper - Rain Scott

This vessel was constructed out of metallic copper paper giving it a shimmer that emulates micaceous-style Pueblo pottery. Sleeping beauty and Persian turquoise are inlaid into the front and back of the olla and a lid decorated with Amazon macaw feathers.

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Turquoise ceramic with small orange koi fish and lime slices painted on side, small ceramic bird on top.
Ceramics - Lucy V Dierks

Wheel thrown porcelain altered. Bird hand sculpted. Multiple glazes fired to cone 7 in electric kiln.

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Sepia-toned picture of woman smiling, dancing on a stage with hands on opposite knees.

“Josephine Baker” by Waléry, gelatin silver print, 1926. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

National Portrait Gallery Presents “Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900–1939”
On View April 26–Feb. 23, 2025
03.27.2024
Portrait Gallery Exhibitions
Painting of woman with black, short, curly hair in a red top and blue jacket sitting in front of an easel with paintbrushes near
Self-Portrait

“Self-Portrait” by Loïs Mailou Jones, casein on board, 1940. Smithsonian American Art Museum; bequest of the artist.

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Painting in dark grays and blues, woman wearing black jacket and top hat with white button-up shirt underneath looks forward.
Self-Portrait

“Self-Portrait” by Romaine Brooks, oil on canvas, 1923. Smithsonian American Art Museum; gift of the artist.

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Woman dancing on stage bends over with hands on opposite knees.
Josephine Baker

“Josephine Baker” by Waléry, gelatin silver print, 1926. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

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Computer graphic with dark blue background and colored silhouettes of athletes in various positions.
Smithsonian Sports Invention Exhibition Will Have People Rethinking Their Game
“Change Your Game”/“Cambia tu juego” Opens March 15 at the National Museum of American History
03.11.2024
American History Museum Exhibitions
Graphic with blue background, title in center, and various smaller objects including purple dress, microscope, and journal.
Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum Launches First Digital Exhibition
Lynda Carter Joins for a Virtual Look Inside the Exhibition March 14
03.07.2024
American Women's History Museum Exhibitions
Black and white image of a group of young students sitting at desks in an arts classroom.

Lois Mailou Jones in her classroom at Howard University, Credit: Scurlock Studio Records, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.

Anacostia Community Museum Presents Exhibition About Black Arts Education in Washington, D.C.
“A Bold and Beautiful Vision” Opens March 23
03.07.2024
Anacostia Community Museum Exhibitions
Full body portrait of woman wearing hair covering in broad swaths of color.
William H. Johnson’s “Fighters for Freedom” Series Reunited for the First Time in More Than 75 Years at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Exhibition Is Drawn From the Museum’s Extensive Collection of Works by the Black Modernist Painter and Important Figure of the Harlem Renaissance
03.07.2024
American Art Museum Exhibitions
Multiple images of various objects including a wooden chair, green floor lamp, map of New York City, granite side table.
Exhibition at Cooper Hewitt to Celebrate Recent Acquisitions to the Collection
"Acquired! Shaping the National Design Collection" On View March 16 Through Sept. 2, 2024
02.27.2024
Cooper Hewitt Exhibitions
Close-up photograph of gold surface with bumpy texture and repeating pattern.

Embossed gold jar (detail), Ōnuma Chihiro (b. 1950), Japan, Shōwa era, 1988, hammered copper with amalgam gilding (kinkeshi), National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Bequest of Shirley Z. Johnson, S2022.8.37a–c Copyright Ōnuma Chihiro.

National Museum of Asian Art Announces Its Newly Acquired Shirley Z. Johnson Collection of Contemporary Japanese Metalwork
Objects From This Unprecedented Gift Will Be on View in the Upcoming Exhibition “Striking Objects: Contemporary Japanese Metalwork”
02.26.2024
Exhibitions New Acquisitions
Image of two paintings side by side, woman on left wears a black dress in dark room and woman on right wears blue dress.

Left: John Singer Sargent, “Mrs. Kate A. Moore,” 1884. Oil on canvas; 71 5/8 x 45 3/4 in. (181.9 x 116.2 cm). Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1972 (72.257). Photo: Lee Stalsworth.

Right: Amoako Boafo, “Cobalt Blue Dress,” 2020. Oil on canvas; 78 3/8 x 60 1/2 in. (199.1 x 153.7 cm). Gift of Sandra and Howard Hoffen, 2022 (2022.016). Photo: Rob Blunt.

“Revolutions: Art from the Hirshhorn Collection, 1860–1960” Inaugurates the 50th Anniversary of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Exhibition of 270 Artworks Charts the Development of the National Collection
02.21.2024
Hirshhorn Museum Exhibitions
A man embraces a woman from behind in a black and white image.

Clark Gable and Joan Crawford by George Hurrell, gelatin silver print, 1936. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; acquired in part through the generosity of an anonymous donor.

National Portrait Gallery Presents “Star Power: Photographs From Hollywood’s Golden Age by George Hurrell”
On View March 1–Jan. 5, 2025
02.01.2024
Portrait Gallery Exhibitions
Computer-generated mockup of multiple people, of various ages and appearance, in museum gallery looking at real planes.

World War I: The Birth of Military Aviation Gallery Rendering. Smithsonian Institution.

National Air and Space Museum Provides Update on Renovation Project
Museum Shares Names and Renderings of Final 12 Galleries To Open
01.30.2024
Air and Space Museum Exhibitions
A woman seated at a table, sewing a bodysuit with a patch of the American flag and patch with the acronym NASA.

"Sewing a fine seam—finishing touches are applied to one section of the new spacesuit for NASA's Apollo lunar missions on this long-arm sewing machine, built specially for manufacturing the spacesuits." Hazel Fellows, seated, machine-sewing pieces of an Apollo A7L spacesuit on the production line at International Latex Corporation (ILC), Federica (Dover), Delaware; released Aug. 9, 1968. Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum Celebrates Women’s History Month 2024 With Inaugural Digital Exhibition and New Initiatives
01.30.2024
American Women's History Museum Exhibitions Public Programs
Facade of building with colorful sculpture and large doorway.
“From the Deep: In the Wake of Drexciya with Ayana V. Jackson” Extended to Jan. 6, 2025, at National Museum of African Art
01.16.2024
African Art Museum Exhibitions
Photograph of live orchid planted in colorful, patterned pot admist other lush greenery.
Smithsonian Gardens To Present 28th Annual Orchid Exhibition
Installation Includes Commissioned Works by Artist Phaan Howng and Explores Conservation Efforts
01.10.2024
Smithsonian Gardens Exhibitions Public Programs
Filipe Berndt
OSGEMEOS, “1980,” 2020.

Mixed media with sequins on MDF; 86 1/4 × 125 9/16 × 2 in. (219 × 319 × 5 cm). Copyright: OSGEMEOS.

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Square yellow button with two silhouettes facing each other and candles in between.

Pinback button celebrating the seven principles of Kwanzaa.
Credit: Collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture

Kwanzaa and Holiday Specials Highlight December Programming at the National Museum of African American History and Culture
11.27.2023
African American Museum Exhibitions Public Programs
Photo of animal skull against white background
James Di Loreto, Brittany M. Hance, Phillip R. Lee and Rosa Pineda. Courtesy of Smithsonian
Rice’s Whale: Skull

The skull of the Rice’s whale skeleton that scientists studied and described to officially designate it as a new species of whale. In the field of biology, scientific recognition of a new species requires what is known as a holotype or type specimen.

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An organic, black piece of whale against a black background

A plate of baleen (left) and a plastic shard (right) found in the gut of the first Rice’s whale to be scientifically described.

Credit: James D. Tiller and Fred Cochard, Smithsonian.

Smithsonian To Host Symposium Focused on Endangered Rice’s Whale in Partnership With NOAA, Marine Mammal Commission
Museum Will Display Remains of the First Scientifically Described Rice’s Whale
11.09.2023
Natural History Museum Research News Exhibitions
White background photo with brown organic matter in hexagonal shape
James D. Tiller and Fred Cochard, Smithsonian
Rice’s Whale: Shard

A plate of baleen (left) and a plastic shard (right) found in the gut of the first Rice’s whale to be scientifically described.

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Photo of black, organic whale matter
James D. Tiller and Fred Cochard, Smithsonian
Rice’s Whale: Plate and Shard

A plate of baleen (left) and

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