Exhibitions

Newsroom of the Smithsonian

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

Ikeda Koson, Edo period, Japan, six-panel screens

One of a pair of six-panel screens: Maple leaves on a stream (front); mountain views (reverse), Ikeda Koson, Edo period, 1856-1858, Japan, Screens (six-panel), Ink and color on gilded paper; ink on paper, H x W (image, each screen): 66.3 × 343.2 cm (65 1/2 × 135 1/8 in) Credit: Ikeda Koson/Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.: Purchase—Harold P. Stern Memorial Fund and funds provided by the Friends of the Freer and Sackler Galleries in appreciation of James W. Lintott and his exemplary service to the galleries as chair of the Board of Trustees (2011-2015), F2014.7.1-2

Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art Celebrates Its Centennial With an Exhibition at Kyoto’s Oldest Zen Temple
Project Is a Partnership With Canon Inc. and Kyoto Culture Association
08.17.2023
Asian Art Museum Exhibitions
Martin Luther King Jr. speech
National Museum of African American History and Culture Recognizes the 60th Anniversary of the March on Washington
08.16.2023
African American Museum Exhibitions
Cover of comic-style catalog book for Heroes exhiition

As part of the museum’s longstanding commitment to and collaboration with institutions of higher learning on the continent, more than 100 copies of the Heroes catalog will be donated to universities and art institutions across Africa.

National Museum of African Art Releases “Heroes” Publication
Donation to African Libraries and Universities; First Collection Book To Debut Museum’s Fully Integrated Approach
08.11.2023
African Art Museum Exhibitions
Black and white negative still image of people standing randomly in group

“Belated Bonsal,” Park Chan-kyong, 2019, HD film, 5.1 channel sound, 55 min, Credit: Copyright Park Chan-kyong /
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korean KCH9852-HDR

National Museum of Asian Art Presents “Park Chan-kyong: Gathering”
Exhibition Is First Solo Presentation of the Korean Artist’s Work in a Major US Institution and Inaugurates the Museum’s New Modern and Contemporary Galleries
08.07.2023
Asian Art Museum Exhibitions
Many Wests Exhibition: "The Protagonist of an Endless Story"

Angel Rodríguez-Díaz, “The Protagonist of an Endless Story,” 1993, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum. Museum purchase made possible in part by the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool and the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program, 1996.19. Copyright 1993, Angel Rodriguez-Diaz.

Smithsonian American Art Museum Reexamines Narratives of the American West in Major Exhibition Bringing Together Works by 48 Contemporary Artists
Only Venue on the National Tour Located East of the Rocky Mountains
07.28.2023
American Art Museum Exhibitions
Artist, wearing yellow top and white pants, is reflected in multiple mirrors

Es Devlin. Photo by Andrea Mora. Image courtesy of Es Devlin, 2023.

Cooper Hewitt to Present “An Atlas of Es Devlin” in Fall 2023
Celebrated Artist and Designer Es Devlin To Install 30-Year Archive in First Monographic Museum Exhibition July 14
07.14.2023
Cooper Hewitt Exhibitions
First geodesic dome black and white)

Weatherbreak’s first construction (1950) in snowy Montreal. Courtesy of the Jeffrey Lindsay Collection at the University of Calgary Archives.

“Reconstructing Weatherbreak” Shows Architecture’s Role in Extreme Weather
National Museum of American History Collaborates With The Catholic University of America on Hands-On Construction of Geodesic Dome Inside the Museum
07.03.2023
American History Museum Exhibitions
Group of women following Black woman with boom box

Courtesy Cauleen Smith

“Musical Thinking: New Video Art and Sonic Strategies” Explores the Intersection of Video and Music by Today’s Leading Contemporary Artists
Exhibition Includes Recent Major Acquisitions
06.15.2023
American Art Museum Exhibitions
daguerreotype of antebellum soldier

Credit: Gouverneur Kemble Warren by an unidentified daguerreotypist. Half-plate daguerreotype with applied color,

c. 1850. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. Purchase funded by the photography
acquisitions endowment by the Joseph L. and Emily K. Gidwitz Memorial Foundation

National Portrait Gallery Presents “Duty, Honor, Country: Antebellum Portraits of West Pointers”
On View June 23–June 9, 2024
06.07.2023
Portrait Gallery Exhibitions
Jessica Diamond text
Jessica Diamond’s Meditation on Life To Be Explored in Text-Based Exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Artist Follows Laurie Anderson and Barbara Kruger in Transforming Gallery Walls With Text-Based Work July 14–June 2, 2024
06.06.2023
Hirshhorn Museum Exhibitions
cell phone cases
New Smithsonian Exhibition Examines the Cultural Nature of Cellphones
“Cellphone: Unseen Connections” Will Allow Visitors To Contemplate the Intersection of Technology, Nature and Culture at Their Fingertips
05.30.2023
Natural History Museum Exhibitions
Composite photo of infant gorilla and adult gorlla

Left: Newborn gorilla cradled by mother Calaya, a 20-year-old female western lowland gorilla. She gave birth to her second offspring May 27 at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. (Photo by Valerie Schultz, Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute)

Right: Calaya, a 20-year-old female western lowland gorilla, gave birth to her second offspring May 27 at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.(Photo by Skip Brown, Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute)

Western Lowland Gorilla Born at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute
05.30.2023
National Zoo & SCBI Exhibitions New Acquisitions Administrative News
Woman in red shirt and shoes poses on hood of car

Shelley Niro (Six Nations Reserve, Bay of Quinte Mohawk, Turtle Clan, b. 1954), “The Rebel,” 1987. Hand-tinted gelatin silver print. Collection of the artist.

First Major Retrospective of Mohawk Artist Shelley Niro’s Work To Go on View at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York
Exhibition Confronts the Challenges of Being Indigenous and Female in the United States and Canada
05.22.2023
American Indian Museum Heye Center Exhibitions
detail from Robert Houle painting
First Major Retrospective for Artist Robert Houle To Go on View at the National Museum of the American Indian
Exhibition Celebrates More Than 50 Years of the Artist’s Work
05.19.2023
American Indian Museum Exhibitions
Forever National Marine Sanctuaries Monk Seal
Forever National Marine Sanctuaries: Hawaiian monk seal single, 2022
Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum Launches New Virtual Exhibition
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Surfer and Outrigger Canoe

44¢ Surfer and Outrigger Canoe single, 1959

Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum Launches New Virtual Exhibition
Complete Collection of U.S. Postage Stamps Honoring Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Americans or Their History and Culture
05.19.2023
Postal Museum Exhibitions
Forever Luna Year
Forever Lunar New Year: Year of the Ox, 2021
Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum Launches New Virtual Exhibition
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Forever Cherry Blossom
Forever Cherry Blossom Centennial setenant pair, 2012
Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum Launches New Virtual Exhibition
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Republic of Palau
32¢ Republic of Palau single, 1995
Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum Launches New Virtual Exhibition
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Hawaii Statehood
20¢ Hawai’i Statehood issue single, 1984
Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum Launches New Virtual Exhibition
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National Parks Centennial
11¢ National Parks Centennial airmail single, 1972
Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum Launches New Virtual Exhibition
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Chinese Resistance
5¢ Chinese Resistance single, 1942
Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum Launches New Virtual Exhibition
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Graphic logo for Girlhood exhibition

Artwork by Krystal Quiles for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History

Smithsonian Exhibition Amplifying Role of Girls in History Is Hitting the Road
“Girlhood (It’s complicated)” To Begin National Tour in June at Minnetrista Museum & Gardens
05.18.2023
Traveling Exhibition Service Exhibitions
Portrait of Frederick DOuglass

Credit: Frederick Douglass by an unidentified artist. Oil on canvas, c. 1845. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

National Portrait Gallery Presents “One Life: Frederick Douglass”
On View June 16–April 21, 2024
05.16.2023
Portrait Gallery Exhibitions

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