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At the Smithsonian / Exhibitions

Lee surrendering to Grant at Appomattox

Which General Was Better? Ulysses S. Grant or Robert E. Lee?

The historic rivalry between the South’s polished general and the North’s rough and rugged soldier is the subject of a new show at the Portrait Gallery

Wile E. Coyote caught in his own trap

What’s Up, Doc? Check Out the Work of Famed Animator Chuck Jones

As part of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, Jones’ work will travel to 13 locations through 2019

"Hawaii by Air" at the National Air and Space Museum explores the history of air travel to America's "most exotic state."

Surfers, Sunsets, and Dancing Girls: How Air Travel Came To Hawaii

“Hawaii by Air” opens today at the National Air and Space Museum, tracing the history of air travel to America’s “most exotic state.”

2001 Anthrax Case

Washington, D.C.

Anthrax Letters, Now on View, Represent the Serious Threats Faced by the Post Office

The National Postal Museum’s “Behind the Badge” exhibit explores the history and legacy of the United States Postal Inspection Service

When the Last of the Great Auks Died, It Was by the Crush of a Fisherman’s Boot

Birds once plentiful and abundant, are the subject of a new exhibition at the Natural History Museum

More than 1,200 newspapers serve ethnic communities across America. Current front pages from some of those publications are on display at the Newseum.

Washington, D.C.

News For All: How the Immigrant Experience Shaped American Media

From Benjamin Franklin to Noticiero Univision, the Newseum discusses the profound influence of immigrants on modern news

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Washington, D.C.

Please DO Touch the Dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum

This summer an augmented reality exhibit transports visitors back to the Cretaceous period when dinosaurs ruled the land

Salvatore Scarpitta’s Sal Cragar, 1969.

When A Race Car Becomes a Work of Art

Salvatore Scarpitta’s automative wonder goes on view at the Hirshhorn

Founded in 1896, the Cooper Hewitt is located in the Andrew Carnegie mansion, a 64-room Georgian brick home that once served as home for the steel magnate and his family.

With a New Name and New Look, the Cooper Hewitt is Primed for a Grand Reopening

Journalists got a sneak preview of what’s coming up when the new museum opens its doors this coming December

Ten Thousand Li Along the Yangzi River, traditionally attributed to Juran (active 960–986), China, Southern Song dynasty, mid-12th to early 13th century

Washington, D.C.

Relax Like You Are in 12th-Century China and Take in These Lush Landscape Paintings

When the Confucian elite got stressed, they’d stare at nature paintings to recharge and renew their souls

For centuries, wooden boats called "dhows" have sailed Lamu's shores, transforming the far-flung island into an important port city.

Washington, D.C.

Why the Smithsonian Folklife Festival is Anchoring a 30-Foot Kenyan Sailing Vessel on the Mall

The 10-day-long celebration of global culture, featuring Kenya and China, takes place in late June and early July

Family photographs collected from around the United States are featured in Beyond Bollywood. Here, Pandit Shankar Ghosh, Shrimati Sanjukta Ghosh, with Vikram (Boomba) Ghosh at Samuel P. Taylor State Park, Lagunitas, Calif., ca. 1970.

How Museums and the Arts are Presenting Identity So That It Unites, Not Divides

Curators and practioners of the arts share a renewed focus on how culture and heritage shape who we are as Americans

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You Otter Believe These Zoo Animals Can Play the Piano, the Harmonica and the Xylophone

D.C.’s hottest summer concert is brought to us by an unlikely source: a bevy of animal musicians

Brown and Silver: Old Battersea Bridge, James McNeill Whistler, 1859—1863

Washington, D.C.

See 19th-Century London Through the Eyes of James McNeill Whistler, One of America’s Greatest Painters

The largest U.S. display in 20 years of Whistler artworks highlights the artist’s career in England

In Portrait of Nan, Wood highlighted his sister’s femininity.

Meet Grant Wood’s Sister, the Woman Made Famous by “American Gothic”

The painter gave his sibling Nan a makeover in his alluring portrait of her

Washington, D.C.

Portraiture in the Time of Mad Men

The Portrait Gallery takes a look at portraiture as it faces Abstract Expressionism in the era of Don Draper’s mid-century modernism

View of Takanawa Ushimachi under a Shrouded Moon, Kobayashi Kiyochika,1879

Tokyo in Transition: Woodblock Prints Cast an Ambiguous Light on Japan’s Modernization

A collection of works by the great Eastern modernist Kobayashi Kiyochika are on view at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum

A FedEx truck carrying the Wankel T. rex skeleton departed Bozeman, Montana, on Friday for the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. A bronze cast of the 65-million-year-old skeleton outside the Museum of the Rockies looks on in the foreground.

Five Things We Don’t Know About Tyrannosaurus Rex

As the Smithsonian welcomes the arrival of its fossil rex, scientists reveal all that we have yet to learn about this magnificent creature

Flower Garden Brooch

These Artists Turn Trash Into Wearable Treasure

Scott and Lisa Cylinder use retooled or found objects to create their clever, one-of-a-kind baubles.

Suspended clock made from walnut, cherry wood, white oak and box elder

James Borden Doesn’t Just Build Clocks, He Creates Sculptures that Tell Time

At the 32nd annual craft fair, the art and craft of the traditional clock takes on a whole new tick tock

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