National Portrait Gallery Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month and Día de Los Muertos

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery will celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15 with free events, tours and programs for all ages that are designed to shine a light on Hispanic culture, history and stories. The Portrait Gallery will begin its celebration with its annual Hispanic Heritage Month Festival, hosted in collaboration with Lil’ Libros. Throughout the month, the museum will also offer curator-led exhibition tours, Spanish-language walking tours and programs with guest speakers to provide visitors with opportunities for insightful discussions on the historical significance of highlighted artworks. Featured portraits to be on view during Hispanic Heritage Month include those of Celia Cruz, Ruben Salazar, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Walter Mercado, Dolores Huerta, Selena Quintanilla and Frida Kahlo. Festivities during the month will conclude with the museum’s annual Día de los Muertos celebration.

On Saturday, Sept. 28, the Portrait Gallery will team up with bilingual children’s book publisher Lil’ Libros to welcome visitors of all ages to the third co-hosted Fotos & Recuerdos Festival. The early afternoon event will take place in the Kogod Courtyard from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visitors will be invited to partake in art making, dancing, museum tours, book signings with Lil’ Libros authors and story times inspired by Latino trailblazers. Founders of Lil’ Libros Patty Rodriguez and Ariana Stein, and author Cynthia Gonzalez, will engage with attendees and share their insights regarding the creation of the book series “The Life of/La vida de.” Throughout the festival, books from the series will be paired with vibrant portraits from the museum’s collection through conversation and activities. The biographical books will also be presented alongside Lil’ Libros’ “Vámonos” series, illustrated by Ana Godinez. In this series, readers learn about the origins of their favorite Hispanic figures. The event is free, and no registration is required. 

Following the festival, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the McEvoy Auditorium, the Portrait Gallery will host a conversation with Puerto Rican artist Miguel Luciano, whose “Porto Rican Cotton Picker” and “Freedom Rider Vest” are on view on the museum’s third floor, and civil rights activist Sylvia Mendez, who was instrumental in desegregating schools in California. Luciano’s artworks represent Mendez’s mother, Felicitas Mendez, who successfully sued the state of California to desegregate schools in the landmark case Mendez v. Westminster (1947). The case brought an end to school segregation in California and provided the eventual legal basis to end racial segregation nationally. The conversation will be moderated by Taína Caragol, curator of painting, sculpture and Latino art and history at the National Portrait Gallery. The event is free, but registration is required.  

Festivities during the month will be followed by the opening of a new exhibition, “Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Always to Return” Oct. 18, presented by the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art. This multisite exhibition will be the first major showing of the late artist’s work in the nation’s capital in 30 years. The Portrait Gallery will partner with the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library of the District of Columbia Public Library and the DowntownDC BID to showcase the artist’s light-string work “Untitled” (America) (1994) along Eighth Street N.W., near the museum. The exhibition is co-curated by Josh T Franco, head of collecting at the Archives of American Art, and Charlotte Ickes, curator of time-based media art and special projects at the National Portrait Gallery.

Continuing the celebration of Latino art and culture beyond Hispanic Heritage Month, the Portrait Gallery will host its annual Día de los Muertos celebration Saturday, Nov. 2, in the Kogod Courtyard, one of the museum’s biggest events of the year. The event will showcase live music, Mexican folk-dance performances and handmade crafts. Guests will be able to hand paint calaveras (sugar skulls) and papel picado (colorful cut-out paper banners) to decorate the community altar. Across the street, at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library, visitors will be able to witness live video-mapping projections by artists MasPaz and Guache on the G and Ninth streets façade. Admission is free.  

Additional Programs 

Spanish-Language Walk-In Tours 
Select Sundays, Sept. 1, Oct. 6 and Nov. 3; 2–3 p.m., G Street lobby 
Visitors can join a volunteer docent on select Sundays for lively Spanish-language tours of the National Portrait Gallery. Free—no registration required.

Conversation Circles
Select Fridays, Sept. 20; Oct. 25, Nov. 22; 10 a.m.–noon, G Street lobby
English-language learners can join National Portrait Gallery educators and friends from all over the world. Together, they will use portraiture to learn about U.S. art, history and culture. This program takes place every other week. Participants can meet new friends, learn about different cultures and practice their English. For more information, email Beth Evans at evansb@si.edu. Free—no registration required.

Trivia Night: Con Mucho Mucho Amor
Tuesday, Sept. 24; 5–6:45 p.m., Kogod Courtyard  
Participants can join the National Portrait Gallery for a happy hour trivia night to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with the museum’s friends from New Columbia Pub Quiz. Participants can test their knowledge of Latino art, history and culture in the U.S. with questions inspired by the museum’s collection.  

The free collections-themed trivia game can be played individually or in teams of up to six people. Prizes will be awarded at the end of the evening. The Courtyard Café will be open during the event, and snacks and beverages will be available for purchase. Free—registration encouraged.

Artists and Their Afterlives: Perspectives on the Value of Archival Materials
Saturday, Oct. 19; 1–2 p.m.
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library’s auditorium (floors 4 and 5)
901 G St. N.W.
Join us for a compelling conversation as a curator, a collector of archives, and an artist share their perspectives on the importance of artists’ archives and how they inform exhibition-making and public understanding. The starting point for the conversation will be the new exhibition “Felix Gonzalez–Torres: Always to Return,” co–organized by the National Portrait Gallery and the Archives of American Art.

The conversation will begin with a discussion of topics that emerged doing archival research for the Felix Gonzalez-Torres exhibition. It will continue with an overview of contemporary collecting at the Archives of American Art and extend into a closer look at archive-based projects spearheaded by an artist who works in Washington, D.C., and London. Free—more information is available.

Curator Tour of “Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Always to Return” 
Sunday, Oct. 20; 3–4 p.m., G Street Lobby 
Take a tour of the exhibition “Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Always to Return” and hear from co-curators Josh T Franco, head of collecting, Archives of American Art, and Charlotte Ickes, curator of time-based media art, the National Portrait Gallery. Free—registration encouraged.

A Walking Tour of “Untitled” (America)
Select Wednesdays, Oct. 23, Nov. 6 and 20; 5:30–6:30 p.m., G Street lobby
What does a portrait of America look like? In the exhibition “Felix Gonzalez–Torres: Always to Return,” “Untitled” (America) comprises 12 light strings that are shown in different configurations across locations inside and outside the museum, including the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library.

Join exhibition curators Charlotte Ickes, curator of time-based media and special projects at the National Portrait Gallery, and Josh T Franco, head of collecting at the Archives of American Art for a special walking tour of “Untitled” (America). Participants will discuss the connections between democracy, labor and change and the site-specific nature of the work. Free—registration is required.

National Portrait Gallery

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery tells the multifaceted story of the United States through the individuals who have shaped American culture. Spanning the visual arts, performing arts and new media, the Portrait Gallery portrays poets and presidents, visionaries and villains, actors and activists whose lives tell the nation’s story.         

The National Portrait Gallery is located at Eighth and G streets N.W., Washington, D.C. Smithsonian Information: (202) 633-1000. Connect with the museum at npg.si.edu and on Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube. 

# # #

SI-264-2024