Exhibitions

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

image of open pit mine

Title: “American Mine”
Artist: David Maisel​
Credit information: © David Maisel/ Courtesy of Edwynn Houk Gallery.

“American Mine” features open pit mines on the Carlin Trend, the most prolific gold mining district in the Western Hemisphere. Mines from this region are the source of devastating mercury emissions, released when ore is heated during the process of gold extraction.

Natural History Exhibition Enlists Artists To Reflect on Humanity’s Growing, Pervasive Role on Earth
Art Exhibition Is First-of-Its-Kind at National Museum of Natural History
03.06.2020
Natural History Museum Exhibitions
Suffrage Pen

This gold pen was used to sign the congressional joint amendment that enacted the Nineteenth Amendment in 1919. Photo by Jaclyn Nash.

Smithsonian Marks 100 Years of Women’s Suffrage
“Creating Icons” Exhibition To Mark the Centennial of the 19th Amendment
03.04.2020
American History Museum Exhibitions
narwhal

Credit: Glenn Williams, Narwhal Tusk Research

“Unicorn of the Sea”—the Narwhal—Explored in Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition
Opens March 28, 2020, at Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History
03.03.2020
Traveling Exhibition Service Exhibitions
Laurie Anderson

Laurie Anderson

Hirshhorn Presents Groundbreaking Artist Laurie Anderson’s Largest US Exhibition to Date
“Laurie Anderson: The Weather” Surveys Pioneering Videos, Large-Scale Commissions and VR Experience, May 19–Sept. 7
02.27.2020
Museums Hirshhorn Museum Exhibitions
Archuleta

Genízaro Maurice Archuleta in the high desert surrounding Abiquiú. Photo @ Russel Albert Daniels, 2019.

New Exhibition Series Highlighting the Work of Native Photojournalists Opens March 24 at the National Museum of the American Indian
02.27.2020
American Indian Museum Exhibitions
painting of natural bridge

Frederic Edwin Church, The Natural Bridge, Virginia, 1852, oil on canvas, 28 x 23 in. The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia, Gift of Thomas Fortune Ryan. 

“Alexander von Humboldt and the United States: Art, Nature and Culture” Explores Renowned Naturalist’s Impact on American Identity
Smithsonian American Art Museum Is the Sole Venue for the Landmark Exhibition
02.25.2020
American Art Museum Exhibitions
hearts of our people painting

Christi Belcourt (Michif), The Wisdom of the Universe, 2014, acrylic on canvas, Collection Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Purchased with funds donated by Greg Latremoille, 2014, 2014/6. © Christi Belcourt

Smithsonian American Art Museum Presents the First Major Museum Exhibition To Explore the Achievements of Native Women Artists at Its Renwick Gallery
Nationally Touring Exhibition Opens in Washington, D.C., Feb. 21
02.19.2020
American Art Museum Exhibitions
Girl in Red, 1950

Robert Blackburn
Girl in Red, 1950
18 ¼ x 12 ½ inches
Color Lithograph
The Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African American Art

Smithsonian Traveling Exhibition Examines the Life and Work of Robert Blackburn and Printmaking in the United States
Tour Launches at Nelson-Atkins in Kansas City, Missouri, March 28
02.12.2020
Traveling Exhibition Service Exhibitions
Equestrian Figure; 13th-15th century C.E

Inland Niger Delta artist; Djenné, Mopti Region, Mali; Equestrian Figure; 13th-15th century C.E.; Ceramic; National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, museum purchase, 86-12-2; Photograph by Franko Khoury.

 

“Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time” Opens at the National Museum of African Art April 11
Exhibition Features Major Loans From Museums in Mali, Morocco and Nigeria and Is on View in Washington for the First Time
02.10.2020
African Art Museum Exhibitions
“Light Depth,” 1969. Acrylic on canvas

Sam Gilliam, “Light Depth,” 1969. Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy Corcoran Gallery of Art. Gift from the Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund), 2018.

 

Hirshhorn Announces the First US Museum Retrospective of Pioneering Abstractionist Sam Gilliam in More Than 15 Years
Expansive Exhibition Will Trace Gilliam’s Six-Decade Career
02.07.2020
Hirshhorn Museum Exhibitions
Guinea pigs in their new village

Guinea pigs in their new village outside the Amazonia forest canopy at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo.
Photo Credit: Roshan Patel/Smithsonian’s National Zoo  

Amazonia Exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo Now Includes a Guinea Pig Village
02.03.2020
National Zoo Exhibitions
toni morrison

"Untitled, Toni Morrison” by Robert McCurdy, 2006. Oil on canvas.

Gift of Ian M. and Annette P. Cumming

National Portrait Gallery Presents Exhibition of Major Gifts “Visionary: The Cumming Family Collection”
01.28.2020
Portrait Gallery Exhibitions

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