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At the Smithsonian / Exhibitions

Yayoi Kusama with recent works in Tokyo, 2016

Follow the Polka Dots to Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Rooms That Are Breaking Museum Records

“Polka dots are a way to infinity,” says Japan’s most successful artist, now at the Hirshhorn

The Watanabe family brought this suitcase with them to Idaho's Minidoka camp. Evacuees were allowed to bring only what they could carry.

What’s Changed in the 30 Years Since the Smithsonian Opened an Exhibition on Japanese Internment

A new display at the American History Museum marks the 75th Anniversary of Executive Order 9066

Misty Copeland sees dance as a “language and a culture that people from everywhere, all over the world, can relate to and understand and come together for.”

In the Footsteps of Three Modern American Prima Ballerinas

A new exhibition shows that classical ballet and the role of the ballerina are rapidly changing

The award-winning, responsive-design website fits your phone, tablet and computer and can be used to make an itinerary for easy printout and planning.

You Don’t Need to Wait for Spring to Enjoy the Smithsonian Gardens

This new tour guide will help you relax in these urban oases

“The Hirshhorn’s unique modernist architecture offers a striking backdrop for the orchids’ brilliant color,” says the museum's director Melissa Chiu.

Why Orchids Belong in an Art Museum

Washington’s much-anticipated annual flower show moves to the Hirshhorn for the flora that loves to perform

The suit Alan Eustace wore during his record-breaking freefall jump in October 2014 is on view at the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

This Souped-Up Scuba Suit Made a Stratospheric Leap

The record-breaking Alan Eustace found just the right fit for his 25-mile free fall by marrying scuba technology with a space suit

Like most innovations in science, the study of whale earwax—a.k.a. earplugs—as oceanic core samples came about by asking a question no one had thought to ask.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

For Scientists, Chunks of Whale Earwax Can Be Biological Treasure Troves

Biologists are waxing poetic about these unusual oceanic core samples found in the ears of cetaceans

“One of the great things we can do at this museum is ask those questions and think about the larger significance of sports and African-Americans," says curator Damion Thomas.

Breaking Ground

Stories of Sports Champions in the African American History Museum Prove the Goal Posts Were Set Higher

The sports exhibition delves into the lost, forgotten or denied history of the heroes on the field

Cars are a liability and expensive to maintain for most Americans. The Future Cycles team builds human-powered vehicles that combine the efficiency of a bicycle or moped with the weather protection and carrying capacity of a car.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

These Locally Grown Design Ideas Were Created by the People for the People

A Cooper Hewitt exhibition spotlights the innovative and sustainable designs generated by those in search of solutions

Top Left: Horace Poolaw, American Indian Museum; Ming Dynasty and Rothko, Sackler, Any Sherald, Visual Arts Gallery, NMAAHC; Noguchi, SAAM. Bottom Left: Bill Viola, Portrait Gallery, Jacob Lawrence, Phillips Collection, Steven Young Lee, The Renwick and Ragnar Kjartansson at the Hirshhorn

Ten Exhibitions to See in Washington, D.C. Over the Holidays

Several innovative art shows, some which close early in the new year, are a must-see

Pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama, 2016

This Great Pumpkin Heralds the D.C. Arrival of Yayoi Kusama

The Hirshhorn’s 65-year retrospective boasts six mirror rooms by this hugely popular artist

Radio Nurse by Isamu Noguchi, 1937

The Innovative Spirit fy17

After the Tragic Lindbergh Kidnapping, Artist Isamu Noguchi Designed the First Baby Monitor

The six-decade career of the artist and commercial designer is on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Portrait of Jack London by Arnold Genthe

The Short, Frantic, Rags-to-Riches Life of Jack London

Jack London State Historic Park, home to the rough and tumble troublemaker with a prolific pen

Gene Davis at work on his painting Franklin's Footpath, created on the street outside of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1972.

The Painter Who Earned His Stripes

Gene Davis, the leading member of the Washington Color School, is celebrated a half century after his striped paintings caught on

John Glenn, standing top right, looks at a model of the ship that took him to space with other astronauts from the Mercury space program in an undated photograph.

For a Larger-Than-Life Space Icon, John Glenn Was Remarkably Down-to-Earth

Friends and colleagues recall his abiding love for Smithsonian’s work, the history of spaceflight and peanut butter buckeyes

The Raft, May 2004, Video/sound installation

Keep an Eye on These Portraits Because They Move

Noted visual artist Bill Viola is subject of the first all-video exhibition in one of D.C.’s oldest buildings.

Carl Kress, performer of "Heat Wave" on Volume I, focuses absolutely on his guitar-playing.

How Countless Hours of Live Jazz Were Saved from Obscurity

The Savory Collection breathes fresh life into jazz

Left to right: Newton Poolaw (Kiowa), Jerry Poolaw (Kiowa), Elmer Thomas Buddy Saunkeah (Kiowa). Mountain View, Oklahoma, ca. 1928

A Rare Insider’s View of Native American Life in Mid-20th-Century Oklahoma

Horace Poolaw’s photography is unearthed at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian

The largest gem-quality diamond ever found in North America goes on view at the Smithsonian.

The Foxfire Diamond Bedazzles as Smithsonian’s Newest Rock Star

The largest gem-quality diamond ever found in North America glows bright blue in the dark

A statue of the former slave Clara Brown, who was born into slavery in 1800. She married and had four children, but the family was broken up and sold at auction.

Breaking Ground

In “Defending Freedom,” the Vanguards Who Refused to Be Suppressed Are Reunited

At the African American History Museum, this exhibition graphically conveys the trials and triumphs in the battle for Civil Rights

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