Lights Out: Recovering Our Night Sky
Explore the effects of light pollution and solutions that can have an immediate impact.
What’s On
Featured events and exhibitions
Featured Exhibitions
With over two hundred exhibitions to choose from, we've highlighted select exhibitions from around the Smithsonian—or check out all of our exhibitions.
What's New
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Knotted Clay: Raku Ceramics and Tea
December 9, 2023 – 2026 Freer Gallery of Art
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Isaac Julien: Lessons of the Hour—Frederick Douglass
December 8, 2023 – December 6, 2026 American Art Museum
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Isaac Julien: Lessons of the Hour—Frederick Douglass
December 8, 2023 – December 6, 2026 Portrait Gallery
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In Memoriam: Rosalynn Carter, 1927–2023
November 21, 2023 – January 3, 2024 Portrait Gallery
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Whistler: Streetscapes, Urban Change
November 18, 2023 – May 4, 2024 Freer Gallery of Art
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Create to Free Yourselves: Abraham Lincoln and the History of Freeing Slaves in America
November 18, 2023 – Fall 2024 African Art Museum
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An Atlas of Es Devlin
November 18, 2023 – August 11, 2024 Cooper Hewitt
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Simone Leigh
November 3, 2023 – March 3, 2024 Hirshhorn
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Recent Acquisitions
November 3, 2023 – October 27, 2024 Portrait Gallery
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Forces of Nature: Voices that Shaped Environmentalism
October 20, 2023 – September 2, 2024 Portrait Gallery
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John Akomfrah: Five Murmurations
October 14, 2023 – TBA African Art Museum
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Park Chan-kyong: Gathering
October 7, 2023 – October 13, 2024 Sackler Gallery
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Human/Nature: Why People Are Drawn to Living Things
September 30, 2023 – Summer 2025 S. Dillon Ripley Center
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Galleries for Modern and Contemporary Art
September 22, 2023 – Ongoing American Art Museum
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Carrie Mae Weems: Looking Forward, Looking Back
September 22, 2023 – July 7, 2024 American Art Museum
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Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas
September 15, 2023 – June 2, 2024 American Art Museum
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¡De última hora!: Latinas Report Breaking News
September 15, 2023 – 2024 American History Museum
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Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea
July 28, 2023 – January 15, 2024 American Art Museum
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Palace Life Unfolds: Conserving a Chinese Lacquer Screen
July 15, 2023 – January 28, 2024 Sackler Gallery
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Jessica Diamond: Wheel Of Life
July 14, 2023 – June 2, 2024 Hirshhorn
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A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes
July 7, 2023 – February 4, 2024 Cooper Hewitt
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Duty, Honor, Country: Antebellum Portraits of West Pointers
June 23, 2023 – June 9, 2024 Portrait Gallery
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Treasures and Trouble: Looking Inside a Legendary Blues Archive
June 23, 2023 – Ongoing American History Museum
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Cellphone: Unseen Connections
June 23, 2023 Through 2026 Natural History Museum
Closing Soon
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Highlights of the NMAAHC Library Collection
September 12, 2022 – December 31, 2023 African American History and Culture Museum
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Shelley Niro: 500 Year Itch
May 27, 2023 – January 1, 2024 American Indian Museum New York
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In Memoriam: Rosalynn Carter, 1927–2023
November 21, 2023 – January 3, 2024 Portrait Gallery
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Kinship
October 28, 2022 – January 7, 2024 Portrait Gallery
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John Akomfrah: Purple
November 23, 2022 – January 7, 2024 Hirshhorn
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A Window Suddenly Opens: Contemporary Photography in China
November 4, 2022 – January 7, 2024 Hirshhorn
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To Live and Breathe: Women and Environmental Justice in Washington, D.C.
May 19, 2023 – January 7, 2024 Anacostia Community Museum
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Block by Block: Naming Washington
July 30, 2021 – January 15, 2024 Portrait Gallery
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Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea
July 28, 2023 – January 15, 2024 American Art Museum
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Meeting Tessai: Modern Japanese Art from the Cowles Collection
August 13, 2022 – January 18, 2024 Freer Gallery of Art
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Palace Life Unfolds: Conserving a Chinese Lacquer Screen
July 15, 2023 – January 28, 2024 Sackler Gallery
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Rinpa Screens
February 25, 2023 – January 28, 2024 Freer Gallery of Art
Don't Miss
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Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures
March 24, 2023 – August 18, 2024 African American History and Culture Museum
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One World Connected
October 14, 2022 – Permanent Air and Space Museum
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The Peacock Room Comes to America
September 3, 2022 – Indefinitely Freer Gallery of Art
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Music HerStory: Women and Music of Social Change
June 22, 2022 – February 20, 2024 American History Museum
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Baseball: America's Homerun
April 9, 2022 – January 5, 2025 Postal Museum
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The Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room
March 5, 2022 – Indefinitely Sackler Gallery
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Americans
January 18, 2018 – Indefinitely American Indian Museum
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Mark Bradford: Pickett's Charge
November 8, 2017 – Ongoing Hirshhorn
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Visionary: Viewpoints on Africa's Arts
November 4, 2017 – Permanent African Art Museum
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America's Presidents
September 22, 2017 – Permanent Portrait Gallery
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American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith
June 28, 2017 – Permanent American History Museum
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Slavery and Freedom
September 24, 2016 – Permanent African American History and Culture Museum
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Musical Crossroads
September 24, 2016 – Permanent African American History and Culture Museum
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Immersion Room
December 12, 2014 – Indefinitely Cooper Hewitt
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Nation to Nation: Treaties between the United States and American Indian Nations
September 21, 2014 – January 25, 2025 American Indian Museum
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The Star-Spangled Banner: The Flag that Inspired the National Anthem
November 21, 2008 – Permanent American History Museum
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Sant Ocean Hall
September 27, 2008 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Luce Foundation Center for American Art
July 1, 2006 – Permanent American Art Museum
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Cold War Aviation
December 15, 2003 – Permanent Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center
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Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals
September 20, 1997 – Permanent Natural History Museum
Kids' Favorites
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Really BIG Money
April 8, 2022 – Indefinitely American History Museum
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The David H. Koch Hall of Fossils—Deep Time
June 8, 2019 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Mega-toothed Shark
May 24, 2019 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Explore! with the National Portrait Gallery
January 28, 2017 – Indefinitely Portrait Gallery
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Sports: Leveling the Playing Field
September 24, 2016 – Indefinitely African American History and Culture Museum
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Wegmans Wonderplace
December 9, 2015 – Indefinitely American History Museum
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African Elephant
September 4, 2015 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Spark!Lab
July 1, 2015 – Indefinitely American History Museum
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Patrick F. Taylor Foundation Object Project
July 1, 2015 – Permanent American History Museum
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American Trail
September 1, 2012 – Permanent National Zoo
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As We Grow: Traditions, Toys, Games
August 22, 2012 – Permanent American Indian Museum
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Eternal Life in Ancient Egypt
November 17, 2011 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Sant Ocean Hall
September 27, 2008 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Butterflies + Plants: Partners in Evolution
Natural History Museum
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Airmail in America
February 22, 2006 – Permanent Postal Museum
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Human Spaceflight
November 1, 2004 – Permanent Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center
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Kids' Farm
June 12, 2004 – Permanent National Zoo
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America on the Move
November 22, 2003 – Permanent American History Museum
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Kenneth E. Behring Family Hall of Mammals
November 15, 2003 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals
September 20, 1997 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Insect Zoo, O. Orkin
September 10, 1993 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Moving the Mail
July 30, 1993 – Permanent Postal Museum
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The Dolls' House
Opened 1951 – Indefinitely American History Museum
