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At the Smithsonian / Exhibitions

Muhammad Ali speaks during a press conference held before his fight against Argentina's Oscar Bonavena.

This Exhibit Asks You to Caption Photos of People Caught in Mid-Sentence

National Portrait Gallery exhibit features snapshots of Muhammad Ali, John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.

Vivid colors and images splash across a five-panel screen, bringing Joseph Banks and James Cook's voyage to life

250 Years Ago, Joseph Banks Documented Australia’s Glorious Botanical Bounty

A film on view at the Natural History Museum showcases the diversity of flora and fauna at the time of European arrival

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See Indigenous Films at the Mother Tongue Film Festival

The four-day event shows more than 20 films featuring 28 languages from 22 regions

Spectacular offerings include (clockwise from top left): John Singer Sargent; art in response to the Age of Humans; Preston Singletary; Yayoi Kusama; and the mighty influence of Alexander von Humboldt.

Twenty Smithsonian Shows to See in 2020

Women inventors, baseball stamps and a new Kusama Infinity Room are among the offerings

Herbert Bayer, (above in a 1928 card by the designer) became one of the most influential graphic designers of his time.

The Pioneering Work of Graphic Artist Herbert Bayer

The Bauhaus-trained artist revolutionized the field of graphic design, but he tarnished his legacy by working with the Nazis

Restaurateur Danny Meyer will talk about bringing Manhattan style to D.C. dining at the Smithsonian on February 20.

A Conversation with Restaurateur Danny Meyer and 18 Other Smithsonian Associates Events in February

Hear Restaurateur Danny Meyer Speak and 18 Other Smithsonian Associates Events in February

Great Nature, Storm on Mount Lyell from Johnson Peak by Chiura Obata, 1939

How Japanese Artist Chiura Obata Came to Be an American Great

With landscapes infused with an emotion borne of a life of struggle, this master receives his due in this traveling retrospective now at the Smithsonian

Sailors reading, writing and relaxing at the Red Cross Rest Room in New Orleans. Around 400,000 African Americans served in World War I.

How World War I Planted the Seeds of the Civil Rights Movement

The Great War was a “transformative moment” for African Americans, who fought for the U.S. even as they were denied access to Democracy

Portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama painted by Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald, respectively

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The National Portrait Gallery’s Obama Portraits Will Embark on a Five-City Tour

Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald’s paintings of Barack and Michelle Obama are set to visit Chicago, Brooklyn, L.A., Atlanta and Houston

The 1906 Kunstdommere (Art Judges) (detail) by Michael Ancher, group portrait captured a handful of Danish cultural luminaries of Scandanavia’s Modern Breakthrough movement of the 1870s and 1880s.

Rare Chance in 2020 to See This Classic Danish Masterwork

At the Portrait Gallery, a new show gets at the visual heart of competitive camaraderie roiling within artist colonies

Yayoi Kusama with recent works in Tokyo, 2016

Celebrating the Eternal Legacy of Artist Yayoi Kusama

An upcoming Hirshhorn collection exhibition will honor the artist’s seven-decade career

AMA #WCW by Dada Khanyisa, 2018

How the Heroes of Africa Triumphed Against All Odds

At the African Art Museum the inspiring stories of 50 individuals from the continent are honored in classical and contemporary works of art

John Kinard, the first African American to head a Smithsonian museum, took the helm of the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum in 1967. The museum was housed in a former theater on Nichols Street in a Southeast neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

Fifty Years Ago, the Idea of a Museum for the People Came of Age

A Smithsonian symposium asked experts to weigh in on the strength of the community museum and chart its way forward

“Within a timespan of about 150 years, Americans transitioned from being mass consumers of ivory goods to enacting legal measures aimed at supporting elephant conservation," says the Smithsonian's Carlene Stephens.

What Elephants Teach Us About Consumption and Extinction

A new exhibition places the human-elephant relationship in the context of American history

Boy Viewing Mount Fuji by Katsushika Hokusai, 1839

A Great Wave of Hokusai

The Freer Gallery—home to the largest collection of the popular Japanese artist’s paintings—unveils 120 rarely seen works

Brooklyn by Mario Martinez (Pascua Yaqui), 2004

Long Sidelined, Native Artists Finally Receive Their Due

At the American Indian Museum in NYC, curators paint eight decades of American Indian artwork back into the picture

Marcel Duchamp by Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1968

Marcel Duchamp Played With the Definition of Art and Now the Public Can, Too

Art connoisseurs Aaron and Barbara Levine amassed a formidable body of the artist’s works; they’d like nothing better than for you to see it

In the installation Color Wheel, the color of the gestures on each canvas are complementary to the background color.

Artist Pat Steir Turns the Hirshhorn Into a Massive Color Wheel

A new immersive installation investigates colors and their relations

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Smithsonian Voices

How WWII Service Members Helped Shape the Smithsonian’s New Fossil Hall

World War II service members played an important role in the shift toward audience-centric storytelling

At the National Museum of American HIstory's demonstration kitchen, chefs like Chef Lynne Just of Sur La Table (above) prepare dishes, while food historian Ashley Rose Young engages them in conversations about the history and significance of the food and its traditions.

Food, Glorious Food

Celebrating Master Chefs and Revolutionary Culinary Moments

Smithsonian’s Food History Weekend pays homage to José Andrés and other celebrity chefs; and places new artifacts on view

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