Join us on Fridays for some creative fun! Check out a Portrait Discovery Kit to explore the museum. Explore a different art material each week.
Learn More About Open Studio FridaysWhat’s On
Featured events and exhibitions
With over two hundred exhibitions to choose from, we've highlighted select exhibitions—or see them all. Looking for tours, lectures, films, performances? See our Event Calendar.
Just Opened
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Portraits of the World: Korea
Opened December 14, 2018
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The Road Ahead: Reimagining Mobility
Opened December 14, 2018
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In Memoriam: George Herbert Walker Bush
Opened December 1, 2018
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Superheroes
Opened November 20, 2018
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Recent Acquisitions
Opened November 16, 2018
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Sea Monsters Unearthed, Life in Angola's Ancient Seas
Opened November 9, 2018
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Disrupting Craft: Renwick Invitational 2018
Opened November 9, 2018
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Charline von Heyl: Snake Eyes
Opened November 8, 2018
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Magnificent Obsessions: Why We Collect
Opened November 7, 2018
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Eye to I: Self-Portraits from 1900 to Today
Opened November 2, 2018
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Rafael Lozano-Hemmer: Pulse
Opened November 1, 2018
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23rd Annual Nature's Best Photography: Windland Smith Rice International Awards
Opened October 29, 2018
Closing Soon
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In Memoriam: George Herbert Walker Bush
Closes January 1, 2019
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Pushing the Envelope: Mail Art from the Archives of American Art
Closes January 4, 2019
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Transformer: Native Art in Light and Sound
Closes January 6, 2019
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Your Community, Your Story: Celebrating Five Decades of the Anacostia Community Museum, 1967-2017
Closes January 6, 2019
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Celebrating Fifty Years
Closes January 6, 2019
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Trevor Paglen: Sites Unseen
Closes January 6, 2019
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UnSeen: Our Past in a New Light, Ken Gonzales-Day and Titus Kaphar
Closes January 6, 2019
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Let's Get It Right: Work Incentive Posters of the 1920s
Closes January 6, 2019
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Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color
Closes January 13, 2019
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Color Decoded: The Textiles of Richard Landis
Closes January 13, 2019
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Diane Arbus: A box of ten photographs
Closes January 21, 2019
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No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man
Closes January 21, 2019
Kids' Favorites
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Superheroes
November 20, 2018 – September 2, 2019
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The Batmobile
January 12, 2018 – Indefinitely
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Explore! With the National Portrait Gallery
January 28, 2017 – Indefinitely
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Pumpkin
December 10, 2016 – Indefinitely
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Sports: Leveling the Playing Field
September 24, 2016 – Indefinitely
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Still Life with Spirit and Xitle
August 6, 2016 – Indefinitely
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Wegmans Wonderplace
December 9, 2015 – Indefinitely
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African Elephant
September 4, 2015 – Permanent
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Spark!Lab
July 1, 2015 – Permanent
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Patrick F. Taylor Object Project
July 1, 2015 – Permanent
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Immersion Room
December 12, 2014 – Indefinitely
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The Last American Dinosaurs: Discovering a Lost World
November 25, 2014 – October 2019
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Connect with U.S. Stamps
September 22, 2013 – Permanent
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Time and Navigation: The Untold Story of Getting from Here to There
April 12, 2013 – Permanent
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American Trail
September 1, 2012 – Permanent
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As We Grow: Traditions, Toys, Games
August 22, 2012 – Permanent
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American Stories
April 12, 2012 – January 2020
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The First Ladies
November 19, 2011 – Indefinitely
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Eternal Life in Ancient Egypt
November 17, 2011 – Indefinitely
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Sant Ocean Hall
September 27, 2008 – Permanent
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Butterflies + Plants: Partners in Evolution
February 15, 2008 – Permanent
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Asia Trail
October 17, 2006 – Permanent
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Our Universes: Traditional Knowledge Shapes Our World
September 21, 2004 – September 2020
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Kids' Farm
June 12, 2004 – Permanent
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America on the Move
November 22, 2003 – Permanent
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Kenneth E. Behring Family Hall of Mammals
November 15, 2003 – Permanent
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The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden
November 15, 2000 – Permanent
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Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals
September 20, 1997 – Permanent
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How Things Fly
September 20, 1996 – Permanent
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Insect Zoo, O. Orkin
September 10, 1993 – Permanent
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Moving the Mail
July 30, 1993 – Permanent
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Apollo to the Moon
July 1, 1976 – Closing fall/winter 2018
Featured, Don't Miss
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Watching Oprah: The Oprah Winfrey Show and American Culture
June 8, 2018 – June 30, 2019
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Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World
May 18, 2018 – 2021
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Diane Arbus: A box of ten photographs
April 6, 2018 – January 21, 2019
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Former First Lady, Michelle Obama by Artist Amy Sherald
February 13, 2018 – Indefinitely
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Americans
January 18, 2018 Through 2022
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Visionary: Viewpoints on Africa's Arts
November 4, 2017 – Permanent
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What Absence Is Made Of
October 19, 2017 – August 2019
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Encountering the Buddha: Art and Practice Across Asia
October 14, 2017 – November 29, 2020
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America's Presidents
September 22, 2017 – Permanent
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American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith
June 28, 2017 – Permanent
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Greensboro Lunch Counter
June 28, 2017 – Indefinitely
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Objects of Wonder
March 10, 2017 – TBD 2021
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Slavery and Freedom
September 24, 2016 – Permanent
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Musical Crossroads
September 24, 2016 – Permanent
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Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall
July 1, 2016 – Permanent
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Trailblazing: 100 Years of Our National Parks
June 9, 2016 – March 3, 2019
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The Great Inka Road: Engineering an Empire
June 26, 2015 – June 1, 2020
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Experience America
August 14, 2014 – Permanent
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Behind the Badge
June 27, 2014 – Indefinitely
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Gems of American Philately
September 22, 2013 – Permanent
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Sant Ocean Hall
September 27, 2008 – Permanent
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Twentieth-Century Americans
July 1, 2006 – Permanent
Asia Meets America
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Japan Modern: Prints in the Age of Photography
September 29, 2018 – January 24, 2019
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Japan Modern: Photography from the Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck Collection
September 29, 2018 – January 24, 2019
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Subodh Gupta
October 14, 2017 – February 3, 2019
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Portraits of the World: Korea
December 14, 2018 – November 17, 2019
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Encountering the Buddha: Art and Practice Across Asia
October 14, 2017 – November 29, 2020
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Elephant Trails
September 3, 2010 – Permanent
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Asia Trail
October 17, 2006 – Permanent
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Feast Your Eyes: A Taste for Luxury in Ancient Iran
October 14, 2017 – Indefinitely
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Many Voices, One Nation
June 28, 2017 – Permanent
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Righting a Wrong: Japanese Americans and World War II
February 17, 2017 – March 2019
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Objects of Wonder
March 10, 2017 – TBD 2021
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Tracing American Journeys
May 12, 2017 – TBD
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Resound: Bells of Ancient China
October 14, 2017 – mid-2020
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Body Image: Arts of the Indian Subcontinent
October 14, 2017 – Indefinitely
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The Peacock Room Comes to America
October 14, 2017 – Permanent
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Engaging the Senses: Arts of the Islamic World
October 14, 2017 – Indefinitely
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Promise of Paradise: Ancient Chinese Buddhist Sculpture
October 14, 2017 – Indefinitely
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The Beginnings of Buddhism in Japan: Buddhist Art in Japan
October 14, 2017 – Indefinitely
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Imperfectly Beautiful: Inventing Japanese Ceramic Style
October 14, 2017 – Indefinitely
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The Power of Words in an Age of Crisis: Buddhist Art in Japan
October 14, 2017 – Indefinitely
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In the Shadow of an Apocalypse: Buddhist Art in Japan
October 14, 2017 – Indefinitely
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Rediscovering Korea's Past: Korean Ceramics
October 14, 2017 – Indefinitely
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Looking Out, Looking In: Art in Late Imperial China
October 14, 2017 – Indefinitely
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Setting the Bar: Arts of the Song Dynasty
October 14, 2017 – Indefinitely
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Center of the World: China and the Silk Road
October 14, 2017 – Indefinitely
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Art and Industry: China's Ancient Houma Foundry: Chinese Bronzes
October 14, 2017 – Indefinitely
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Afterlife: Ancient Chinese Jades
October 14, 2017 – Indefinitely
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Power in Southeast Asia
October 21, 2017 – TBA
World War I Commemoration
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Legend, Memory, and the Great War in the Air
November 13, 1991 – Closing fall/winter, 2018
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The Price of Freedom: Americans at War
November 11, 2004 – Permanent
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Double Victory: The African American Military Experience
September 24, 2016 – Permanent
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Modern Medicine and the Great War
April 6, 2017 – January 2019
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Advertising War
April 6, 2017 – February 2019
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Gen. John J. Pershing and World War I, 1917-1918
April 6, 2017 – TBA
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Uniformed Women in the Great War
April 6, 2017 – TBA
Smithsonian Year of Music
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America's Listening
October 19, 2018 – Indefinitely
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John Lennon: The Green Album
September 7, 2018 – February 3, 2019
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Represent: Hip-Hop Photography
March 5, 2018 – May 5, 2019
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Resound: Bells of Ancient China
October 14, 2017 – mid-2020
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Sounding American Music
June 21, 2017 – TBD
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Musical Crossroads
September 24, 2016 – Permanent
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Places of Invention
July 1, 2015 – Indefinitely
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Big Band
March 31, 2015 – Indefinitely
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Grand Piano made by Bluthner, Leipzig, Germany, 1900
August 13, 2014 – Indefinitely
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Circle of Dance
October 6, 2012 – April 2019
