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Asian Art Museum

Cat's Head, 30 BCE to third century CE

Freer|Sackler: Reopens

Why the Ancient Egyptians Loved Their Kitties

A show opening at the Sackler dramatizes the various meanings that the people of Egypt once associated with cats

The installation Terminal allows visitors to walk through the work, between the spires and beneath the canopy that connects them.

Freer|Sackler: Reopens

Get Lost Inside These Golden Spires Transforming the Sackler Pavilion

Terminal,the work of acclaimed artist Subodh Gupta, recalls an urban cityscape

In the late Bronze Age, ca. 500-450 BCE, bells were made in sets that rang different notes according to size.

Freer|Sackler: Reopens

A Rare Collection of Bronze Age Chinese Bells Tells a Story of Ancient Innovation

These rarely played ancient bells are newly analyzed with their acoustics remastered and digitized for a new exhibition at the Sackler Gallery

A succulent spread from Petworth-based Japanese restaurant Himitsu, one of the many D.C. vendors that will be represented at IlluminAsia.

Freer|Sackler: Reopens

You’ve Never Tasted “Street Food” Like This Before

For its grand reopening, a hub of Asian-American culture serves up a culinary wonderland

Two celestial beings, China, Kucha, Kizil, Cave 224 or 205, 6th century CE

Freer|Sackler: Reopens

New Sackler Buddhist Exhibition Doubles the Immersive Experiences

Film of Sri Lankan site joins popular shrine room as part of three-year exhibition and we finally learn why one Buddha’s hair is blue

This resplendent Tibetan shrine room will greet visitors to the Sackler Gallery's upcoming "Encountering the Buddha" exhibition.

From Egyptian Cats to Crime Scenes, Here’s a Preview of the Smithsonian’s Upcoming Shows

Gallery-goers in D.C. and NYC are in for a mental workout with shows that deliver on everything from the experimental to the traditional

This summer, Smithsonian reporters took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Freer Gallery and shot exclusive photographs of the building in its preparatory state.

Take an Exclusive Sneak Peek Inside the Renovated Freer Gallery, Reopening in October

Charles Lang Freer gifted this meditative haven for art lovers to the nation and was James McNeill Whistler’s friend and patron

Highly social, narwhals travel in pods, often broken off by sex, and communicate via complex vocalizations that seem to be specific to their herds.

Does the Narwhal’s Majestic Tusk Have a Point?

A Connecticut dentist, turned curator of a new exhibition, has long worked to solve the secrets of the whale’s characteristic horn

Podnar shoots dry ice pellets, which sit at a frosty temperature of around negative minus-180-degrees Fahrenheit, at the object's surface

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Conservation of a Pair of Saint-Gaudens Goes al Fresco at the Freer

The beauty of dry ice cleaning is the efficient and environmentally safe process; but also the procedure was on view from the street

Bjarke Ingels

Bjarke Ingels Makes the Impossible Concrete

The star architect is mapping out a new daring plan for the Smithsonian

Snow at Fukagawa by Kitagawa Utamaro (1753–1806), Japan, Edo period, ca. 1802–6

This Rare Display of a Japanese Triptych is Only Usurped by the Great Mysteries Surrounding It

Don’t miss this singular showing of Kitagawa Utamaro’s three works reunited at the Sackler Gallery

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

Dish with copper-red glaze, and a Xuande mark in cobalt oxide on the base, China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen Ming Dynasty, Xuande reign (1426-1435)

What a Mark Rothko Painting Has in Common With a Ming Dynasty Dish

This one vibrant color, rich in symbolism, unites two works across five centuries

Written in alternating lines of gold and black in Baghdad in 1307 for the Mongol ruler Uljaytu; the Qur'an was intended for his monumental tomb in Sultaniyya in northwestern Iran. (The monument is still standing today).

In a Historic First, a Large Collection of Islamic Qur’ans Travels to the U.S.

The art of the ancient Qur’an is showcased with the loan of some 48 manuscripts and folios from Istanbul, Turkey, and on view at the Smithsonian

“We know of only five scrolls of this heroic size by the artist Wen Zhengming [1470-1559] and this is the only known example with a personal poem,” says curator Stephen D. Allee.

When the Painting Is Also Poetry

A sublime new show honors the Chinese tradition of the ‘Three Perfections’—poetry, painting and calligraphy

Crisis, From the series Ashab Al-Lai/ Fault Mirage: A Thousand Lost years by Ahmed Mater, 2015

A Changing Mecca Is the Focus of the First U.S. Exhibition to Feature a Saudi Artist

The works of Ahmed Mater at the Sackler examine the stark collision of the sacred and profane

Avenue of Cherry Trees Yoshida Hiroshi, Showa era, 1935

How Cherry Trees Blossomed Into a Tourist Attraction

The fragile and transient blossom may herald the first stirrings of spring, but their significance has evolved since the 9th century

The mausoleum of Cyrus in a cyanotype from a glass plate negative from the papers of Ernst Herzfeld.

How a German Archaeologist Rediscovered in Iran the Tomb of Cyrus

Lost for centuries, the royal capital of the Achaemenid Empire was finally confirmed by Ernst Herzfeld

The hidden significance of the illustrations found on "The Cosmic Buddha," an iconic masterpiece from the collections of the Freer Gallery, is now being revealed thanks to 3D technology.

Curators Discover New Details in the Etchings on a 6th-Century Chinese Sculpture

A headless figure, cloaked in a robe covered with complex illustrations, is now better understood thanks to 3D technology

A pair of six-panel folding screens entitled Waves of Matsushima, Tawaraya Sōtatsu, early 1600s

A Renowned, But Forgotten, 17th-Century Japanese Artist Is Once Again Making Waves

Long neglected, the 17th-century Japanese artist Tawaraya Sōtatsu influenced Western art 400 years later

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