What’s On
Featured Exhibitions
With more than two hundred exhibitions to choose from,
we've highlighted select exhibitions from across our museums and zoo.
What's New
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The Print Generation
November 16, 2024 – April 27, 2025 Sackler Gallery
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Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo
November 15, 2024 – August 17, 2025 American Art Museum
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The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture
November 8, 2024 – September 14, 2025 American Art Museum
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Making Home: Smithsonian Design Triennial
November 2, 2024 – August 10, 2025 Cooper Hewitt
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Japanese Art from the Collection
October 26, 2024 – Ongoing Freer Gallery of Art
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Felix Gonzalez-Torres: Always to Return
October 18, 2024 – July 6, 2025 Portrait Gallery
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NASA’s Earth Information Center @ NMNH
October 8, 2024 Through 2028 Natural History Museum
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OSGEMEOS: Endless Story
September 29, 2024 – August 3, 2025 Hirshhorn Museum
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Basquiat × Banksy
September 29, 2024 – October 26, 2025 Hirshhorn Museum
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An Epic of Kings: The Great Mongol Shahnama
September 21, 2024 – January 12, 2025 Sackler Gallery
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Sublime Light: Tapestry Art of DY Begay
September 20, 2024 – July 13, 2025 American Indian Museum
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Dazzling Diversity
September 10, 2024 – December 16, 2025 Natural History Museum
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Sightlines: Chinatown and Beyond
September 7, 2024 – November 20, 2025 American Art Museum
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Voting by Mail: Civil War to Covid-19
August 24, 2024 – February 23, 2025 Postal Museum
Opening Soon
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In Slavery's Wake: Making Black Freedom in the World
December 13, 2024 – June 8, 2025 African American History and Culture Museum
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Delighting Krishna: Paintings of the Child-God
March 15, 2025 – August 24, 2025 Sackler Gallery
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Adam Pendleton: Love, Queen
April 4, 2025 – January 3, 2027 Hirshhorn Museum
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The Outwin 2025: American Portraiture Today
May 3, 2025 – March 1, 2026 Portrait Gallery
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Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight
Anticipated to Open in 2025 – Permanent Air and Space Museum
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Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall
Anticipated to Open in 2025 – Permanent Air and Space Museum
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Amy Sherald: American Sublime
September 19, 2025 – February 22, 2026 Portrait Gallery
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Flight and the Arts Center
Anticipated to Open in 2026 – Indefinitely Air and Space Museum
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Futures in Space
Anticipated to Open in 2026 – Indefinitely Air and Space Museum
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Textron How Things Fly
Anticipated to Open in 2026 – Indefinitely Air and Space Museum
Closing Soon
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Commissioned Portrait of Oprah Winfrey
December 13, 2023 – December 15, 2024 Portrait Gallery
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Subversive, Skilled, Sublime: Fiber Art by Women
May 31, 2024 – January 5, 2025 Renwick Gallery
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Baseball: America's Homerun
April 9, 2022 – January 5, 2025 Postal Museum
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Jessica Diamond: Wheel Of Life
July 14, 2023 – January 5, 2025 Hirshhorn Museum
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From the Deep: In the Wake of Drexciya with Ayana V. Jackson
April 29, 2023 – January 6, 2025 African Art Museum
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An Epic of Kings: The Great Mongol Shahnama
September 21, 2024 – January 12, 2025 Sackler Gallery
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Bruce Onobrakpeya: The Mask and the Cross
June 21, 2024 – January 17, 2025 African Art Museum
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Voting by Mail: Civil War to Covid-19
August 24, 2024 – February 23, 2025 Postal Museum
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Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900–1939
April 26, 2024 – February 23, 2025 Portrait Gallery
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Bold and Beautiful Vision: A Century of Black Arts Education in Washington, DC, 1900–2000
March 23, 2024 – March 2, 2025 Anacostia Community Museum
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Artists at Work
March 20, 2024 – March 21, 2025 S. Dillon Ripley Center
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Music HerStory: Women and Music of Social Change
June 22, 2022 – March 24, 2025 American History Museum
Don't Miss
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Sightlines: Chinatown and Beyond
September 7, 2024 – November 20, 2025 American Art Museum
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Benin Bronzes
June 3, 2024 – December 31, 2026 African Art Museum
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Cellphone: Unseen Connections
June 23, 2023 Through 2026 Natural History Museum
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Contemporary Craft at the Renwick Gallery
April 19, 2023 – June 8, 2025 Renwick Gallery
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One World Connected
October 14, 2022 – Permanent Air and Space Museum
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The Peacock Room Comes to America
September 3, 2022 – Indefinitely Freer Gallery of Art
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Music HerStory: Women and Music of Social Change
June 22, 2022 – March 24, 2025 American History Museum
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¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States
June 18, 2022 – Indefinitely American History Museum
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The Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room
March 5, 2022 – Ongoing Sackler Gallery
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Laurie Anderson: Four Talks
September 24, 2021 – Ongoing Hirshhorn Museum
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Americans
January 18, 2018 – Indefinitely American Indian Museum
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Mark Bradford: Pickett's Charge
November 8, 2017 – Ongoing Hirshhorn Museum
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America's Presidents
September 22, 2017 – Permanent Portrait Gallery
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American Democracy: A Great Leap of Faith
June 28, 2017 – Permanent American History Museum
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Musical Crossroads
September 24, 2016 – Permanent African American History and Culture Museum
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Slavery and Freedom
September 24, 2016 – Permanent African American History and Culture Museum
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Nation to Nation: Treaties between the United States and American Indian Nations
September 21, 2014 – January 17, 2028 American Indian Museum
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The Star-Spangled Banner: The Flag that Inspired the National Anthem
November 21, 2008 – Permanent American History Museum
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Cold War Aviation
December 15, 2003 – Permanent Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center
Kids' Favorites
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Really BIG Money
April 8, 2022 – Indefinitely American History Museum
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The David H. Koch Hall of Fossils—Deep Time
June 8, 2019 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Explore! with the National Portrait Gallery
January 28, 2017 – Indefinitely Portrait Gallery
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Sports: Leveling the Playing Field
September 24, 2016 – Indefinitely African American History and Culture Museum
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Wegmans Wonderplace
December 9, 2015 – Indefinitely American History Museum
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African Elephant
September 4, 2015 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Patrick F. Taylor Foundation Object Project
July 1, 2015 – Permanent American History Museum
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Spark!Lab
July 1, 2015 – Indefinitely American History Museum
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American Trail
September 1, 2012 – Permanent National Zoo
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As We Grow: Traditions, Toys, Games
August 22, 2012 – Permanent American Indian Museum
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Eternal Life in Ancient Egypt
November 17, 2011 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Sant Ocean Hall
September 27, 2008 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Butterfly Pavilion
Natural History Museum
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Human Spaceflight
November 1, 2004 – Permanent Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center
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Kids' Farm
June 12, 2004 – Permanent National Zoo
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America on the Move
November 22, 2003 – Permanent American History Museum
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Kenneth E. Behring Family Hall of Mammals
November 15, 2003 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Janet Annenberg Hooker Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals
September 20, 1997 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Insect Zoo, O. Orkin
September 10, 1993 – Permanent Natural History Museum
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Moving the Mail
July 30, 1993 – Permanent Postal Museum
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The Dolls' House
Opened 1951 – Indefinitely American History Museum