Exhibitions

Newsroom of the Smithsonian

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

Room with curved wall made of screens showing colorful images.
James Di Loreto, Smithsonian.
NMNH Hyperwall - Exhibition

A large Hyperwall—a giant video screen used to display NASA’s Earth Information Center data—will be the centerpiece of “NASA’s Earth Information Center at the National Museum of Natural History.” The Hyperwall in

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Painting of young girl in a black dress and red hat, holding a white teacup and saucer, in front of blue background.
Jon Etter
NPG Amy Sherald: "Miss Everything"

Amy Sherald, “Miss Everything (Unsuppressed Deliverance),” 2013; private collection; copyright Amy Sherald; photo: Jon Etter, courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth.

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Painting of a young man wearing a cowboy hat and American flag-patterned button down, with gold background
Joseph Hyde
NPG Amy Sherald: "What's precious..."

Amy Sherald, “What’s precious inside of him does not care to be known by the mind in ways that diminish its presence (All American),” 2017; private collection, Chicago; Copyright Amy Sherald; photo: Joseph Hyde, courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth.

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Painting with gold background and dark figure with cowboy hat and American flag-patterned button down.

Amy Sherald, “What’s precious inside of him does not care to be known by the mind in ways that diminish its presence (All American),” 2017; private collection, Chicago; Copyright Amy Sherald; photo: Joseph Hyde, courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth.

National Portrait Gallery Announces “Amy Sherald: American Sublime”
On view in Washington, D.C., Beginning Sept. 19, 2025
09.16.2024
Portrait Gallery Exhibitions
Painting of a stylized figure and dog against swaths of bright color.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, "Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump," 1982. Acrylic, crayon, and spray paint on canvas; 96 × 164 in. (240 × 420 cm.) Private collection. All images by Jean-Michel Basquiat, all likenesses of Jean-Michel Basquiat, and all use of Jean-Michel Basquiat's name © Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Licensed by Artestar, New York.

Hirshhorn Museum Opens “Basquiat × Banksy”
Focused Exhibition Opens Sept. 29
09.16.2024
Hirshhorn Museum Exhibitions
Poster with yellow background, and white and blue graphic of family.
NMAH Giving in America: Mary's Center
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Small wooden figurine of a man in a long white lab coat and black hat holding a book.

Venezuelan folk sculpture of José Gregorio Hernández, a late 19th- and early 20th-century physician who became a symbol of health-care charity.

D.C. Community Clinic Objects Highlight Philanthropy in Smithsonian Exhibition
National Museum of American History Adds Latino Response to Health-Care Needs to “Giving in America” Exhibition
08.14.2024
American History Museum Exhibitions
NMAH Giving in America: Dr. Hernandez
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Image of flat tapestry with horizontal stripes in varying shades of orange, yellow, pink and red.

DY Begay (Diné, b. 1953), “Intended Vermillion,” 2015. Wool with plant, insect, and synthetic dyes, 49 x 37 ½ in. Denver Art Museum: Commissioned and funded by Kent and Elaine Olson for the Denver Art Museum, 2015.266 

“Sublime Light: The Tapestry Art of DY Begay” Celebrates Three Decades of Groundbreaking Work by Innovative Diné Artist
Tapestries Inspired by Landscape Embody Tradition and Innovation
08.13.2024
American Indian Museum Exhibitions
Image of flat tapestry in dark blue with light blue horizontal stripe across center.
Walter Larrimore for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian
NMAI DY Begay: "Enchanted Indigo"

DY Begay (Diné, b. 1953), “Enchanted Indigo,” 2022. Wool and plant dye, 24 5/8 × 26 in. Private collection, New York. 

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Image of flat tapestry that is red and blue.
Walter Larrimore for Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, 2023 
NMAI DY Begay: "Monumental Edge"

DY Begay (Diné, b. 1953), “Monumental Edge 2,” 2020. Wool, plant dye, insect dye, and synthetic dye, 77 1/2 x 39 in. Collection of Merrilee Caldwell and Marcus Randolph.

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Woman with dark hair and a blue shirt, sitting in front of a loom.
Photo by Peter Ellzey, 2022
NMAI DY Begay: Studio

DY Begay (Diné, b. 1953) in her studio. Santa Fe, New Mexico. 

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Image of multicolored, multi-textured jacket with arms outstretched.

Terence Nicholson, Safety Jacket: A Mourning in Chinatown, 2018. Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution. Gift of Alexia and Roderick von Lipsey.

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center Presents “Sightlines: Chinatown and Beyond” at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Opening Sept. 7
Exhibition Celebrates Impact of Asian Americans in Washington, D.C.
08.09.2024
Asian Pacific American Center Exhibitions
Image of a multicolored jacket.
Sightlines: Safety Jacket

Safety Jacket: A Mourning in Chinatown, 2018. Terence Nicholson (American, born 1968). Mixed media. Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum, 2022.1.1

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Computer mock-up of gallery with wood floors, blue walls, and black and white images.
Sightlines: Exhibition View
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Purple background with red blocky letters and thin black typeface beneath.
Cooper Hewitt Announces “Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial”
08.06.2024
Cooper Hewitt Exhibitions
Poster with image of a postage stamp of an American flag and text about the stamp issue.

Post Office Department poster for a 5c stamp issue carries a slogan for registering and voting, 1964. Credit: Smithsonian Libraries and Archives.

Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum To Open Voting by Mail Exhibition
“Voting by Mail: Civil War to Covid-19” Opens Aug. 24
07.30.2024
Postal Museum Exhibitions
Poster with image of a postage stamp of an American flag and text about the stamp issue.
Smithsonian Libraries and Archives
National Postal Museum - Voting By Mail, Poster for 5c stamp

Post Office Department poster for a 5c stamp issue carries a slogan for registering and voting, 1964.

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Black-and-white photograph of a group of Japanese American adults around a table examining and filling out documents.
National Archives
National Postal Museum - Voting By Mail, Japanese Americans vote in 1942

Japanese Americans prepare their absentee ballots to vote while incarcerated at Tule Lake, California, 1942.

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Unused form titled “Official Federal War Ballot.”
National Postal Museum, Smithsonian Institution
National Postal Museum - Voting By Mail, Federal War Ballot

Official Federal War Ballot issued in 1944 for absentee voting by members of the US Armed Forces

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Front of envelope printed in red with “Official Election War Ballot – Via Air Mail” and election oath signed by hand.
National Postal Museum, Smithsonian Institution
National Postal Museum - Voting By Mail, US Army ballot return

Ballot return envelope sent by US Army Nurse Teckla H. Jacobson to Washington Secretary of State, 1944.

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Postcard printed in red with “Official Election War Ballot Via Air Mail” and addressed by hand.
National Postal Museum, Smithsonian Institution
National Postal Museum - Voting By Mail, Navy Reserve postcard

​​​​​Ballot request

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Envelope with printing, handwriting, postal marking, and postage stamp.
National Postal Museum, Smithsonian Institution
National Postal Museum - Voting By Mail, Civil War envelope

Civil War envelope for mailing soldiers’ votes on a tally sheet for the Ohio state election in 1864.

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Color photograph of two Black women in military uniforms at a table with absentee voter paperwork.
US Army photo by Dustin Senger
National Postal Museum - Voting By Mail, Army Voters

US Army Pfc. Chyna Williams (left) helps Staff Sgt. Janeen Butler at a voter assistance drive, Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar, 2008.

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