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Close to us, a young man and three boys sit or recline in a small sailboat that tips to our left on a choppy dark green sea in this horizontal painting. The billowing sail extends off the top left corner of the canvas and is echoed in the background to our right by the tall sails of another ship in the distance. The horizon line comes about a third of the way up the composition, and puffy gray and white clouds sweep across the turquoise sky. The sun lights the scene from our right so the boys’ ruddy faces are in shadow under their hats. The young man and boys all face our left so they lean against and into the boat as it cants up to our right. The boy nearest the sail to our left reclines across the bow. Next to him to our right, a younger boy perches on the edge of the boat and holds on with both hands. The oldest, in a red shirt, sits on the floor of the boat as he maneuvers the sail with a rope. Closer to us and to our right, a younger boy sits with his bare feet pressed together in front of his bent knees on the back edge of the boat, gazing into the distance over his right shoulder as he handles the tiller. The artist signed and dated the painting in dark letters in the lower right corner: “HOMER 1876.”

Celebrating American Art

Step into a fresh take on our American art galleries.

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The image shows a group of men standing in a tunnel or mine shaft. The upper half of their bodies is visible, with several standing in the foreground and others in the background. The men are wearing headlamps on their helmets, illuminating their soot-covered faces. Some of the men have short-cropped hair visible beneath their helmets. They are dressed in rugged, dust-stained work clothes suitable for mining, such as overalls and jackets. One man in the front holds a mining drill, while another holds a tin canister. A metal structure is visible in the background, indicating a mining operation setting, with dark and industrial surroundings.

Beneath the Surface

Mining and American Photography

Nearly two centuries of American photographs transport us to unexpected places to witness what powers our lives.

Now on view

Now on view

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In the Tower: Chakaia Booker

Treading New Ground
Through August 2, 2026

See three awe-inspiring sculptures by an American artist who transforms tires to explore environmental concerns.

East Building, Tower Level

In the Library: Photobooks and American Energy

Through August 22, 2026

Books and photographs come together to tell stories about powering America today.

East Building
The image shows a group of men standing in a tunnel or mine shaft. The upper half of their bodies is visible, with several standing in the foreground and others in the background. The men are wearing headlamps on their helmets, illuminating their soot-covered faces. Some of the men have short-cropped hair visible beneath their helmets. They are dressed in rugged, dust-stained work clothes suitable for mining, such as overalls and jackets. One man in the front holds a mining drill, while another holds a tin canister. A metal structure is visible in the background, indicating a mining operation setting, with dark and industrial surroundings.

Beneath the Surface

Mining and American Photography
Through August 23, 2026

Nearly two centuries of American photographs transport us to unexpected places to witness what powers our lives.

West Building
We look slightly down onto a woman dressed in golden yellows, sitting in a pale green chair, with a nude child sitting in her lap as they both gaze into a mirror in this vertical portrait painting. Both the people have pale, peachy skin. The chair is angled to our left so the woman’s knees and child cant down toward the lower left corner of the composition, and the woman leans onto the arm closer to us. The chair is painted mint green and the rose-pink upholstery is visible on the seat and a corner behind the woman’s shoulder. To our right, the woman’s vibrant, copper-colored hair is pulled loosely to the back of her head. She has a rounded nose, flushed cheeks, and her full, coral-pink lips are closed. Her long dress has a low, U-shaped neckline. The fabric shimmers from pale, cucumber green to light sunshine yellow. The sleeves of the dress split over the shoulder and a second long, goldenrod-yellow sleeve falls from her elbow off the bottom edge of the canvas. An oversized sunflower, larger than the woman’s face, is affixed to her dress near her left shoulder, closer to us. She looks with dark eyes down toward the small, gold-rimmed mirror she holds in her right hand, farther from us. The child also holds the handle of the mirror with both hands, and in the reflection, the child looks back at us with dark eyes, a button nose, and pink lips. The child’s hair in the reflection is the same copper color as the woman’s, but the child on her lap has blond, shoulder-length hair. The woman rests one hand on the child’s left shoulder, closer to us. The child has a rounded belly and smooth, rosy limbs. The woman and child are reflected in a second mirror hanging on the wall alongside them, opposite us. Their reflections are very loosely painted. The wall behind the pair is sage green across the top and it shifts to fawn brown across the bottom. Brushstrokes are visible throughout, especially in the woman’s dress and hair, and are more blended in the bodies and faces. The artist signed the painting in the lower right corner, “Mary Cassatt.”

Mary Cassatt

An American in Paris
Through August 30, 2026

An intimate exhibition brings together rarely-seen treasures and iconic works by Mary Cassatt, marking 100 years since her death.

West Building
The image is a repeating pattern of portraits of a historical figure framed within oval borders. Each portrait displays only the upper body, showing the head and shoulders of the individual in a forward-facing position with slightly turned shoulders. The person has a solemn expression, a prominent nose, narrow eyes, wears a white historical powdered wig and a dark coat with a high collar and a white ruffled shirt. The background has vine-like designs. There is a logo on the right that says America's 250th.

Dear America

Artists Explore the American Experience
Through September 20, 2026

What does it mean to be American? How have artists examined this question?

West Building
We hover over the bottle-green surface of a river as it rushes toward a horseshoe-shaped waterfall that curves away from us in this horizontal landscape painting. The water is white and frothy right in front of us, where the shelf of the riverbed changes levels near the edge of the falls. Across from us, the water is also white where it falls over the edge. A thin, broken rainbow glints in the mist near the upper left corner of the painting and continues its arc farther down, between the falls. The horizon line is just over halfway up the composition. Plum-purple clouds sweep into the composition at the upper corners against a lavender-colored sky. Tiny trees and a few buildings line the shoreline to the left and right in the deep distance.

Niagara Falls

Mist and Majesty
Through September 20, 2026

Some 20 works probe how the layered histories and meanings of Niagara Falls have evolved from the early 19th century to today.

West Building

Clifford Ross

Digital Waves
Through October 18, 2026

Our central, soaring Rotunda comes alive with a 23-foot screen featuring waves built from millions of glowing pixels.

West Building

Sky Hopinka

Kicking the Clouds
Through December 6, 2026

Through photographs, poems, and film, Sky Hopinka connects family, language, place, and lived Indigenous experience. 

West Building
The image features a series of horizontal lines and a rectangle filled with star shapes at the top left corner. The flag consists of green and black stripes with a red rectangle in the upper left containing a pattern of blue stars. Below, a more subdued version mirrors the form with tones of gray and white. The composition is set against a textured gray background. On the right is a logo that reads America's 250th in shades of white, red, and blue against a black circle background.

American Icon

The US Flag in Art
Through December 6, 2026

30 works from the late 1800s to today illustrate changing uses and interpretations of the US flag, the values it represents, and the people who identify with it.

East Building

Back and Forth

Rozeal., Titian, Cezanne
Through January 3, 2027

Spanning six centuries and different cultures, four paintings reveal how artists engage with art history—and become part of it. 

West Building

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This painting shows a canyon landscape viewed from a high vantage point, with ridges and formations extending into the distance. The horizon is positioned high in the painting, with the light-blue sky featuring soft white clouds. The canyon displays vibrant shades of red, pink, and green, contrasting with shadowed areas in darker shades of blue and gray. In the bottom right corner of the painting, there are some geometric white and blue patterns overlayed on top of the canyon.

Homelands

June 27, 2026 - August 1, 2027

What does it mean to have a “homeland” when it’s shaped by movement, memory, and change?

East Building

Broken

The Power of the Fragment in Sculpture
March 13 - June 27, 2027

Discover how a fragment tells a whole story.

West Building, Main Floor

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Close to us, a young man and three boys sit or recline in a small sailboat that tips to our left on a choppy dark green sea in this horizontal painting. The billowing sail extends off the top left corner of the canvas and is echoed in the background to our right by the tall sails of another ship in the distance. The horizon line comes about a third of the way up the composition, and puffy gray and white clouds sweep across the turquoise sky. There is a logo that reads America's 250th on the right.

Celebrating American Art

Step into a fresh take on our American art galleries.

West Building, Main Floor
A room with white walls, hardwood floors, and skylights, with various sculptural forms, mobiles, and some paintings on display.

Alexander Calder

A Survey

Immerse yourself in the world’s largest display of works by Calder, featuring more than 40 sculptures and paintings.

East Building
An open window with semi-transparent curtains blowing in the breeze looking out onto an empty field with trees in the background.

American Places

Featuring Selections from the Corcoran Collection

See how early 20th-century artists captured experiences of modern life, from isolated mountaintops to crowded cities.

East Building

Marc Chagall

Orphée

Hidden in a corner of our Sculpture Garden stands a large-scale mosaic which combines narratives from Greek mythology with the artist's personal experience escaping Nazi-occupied France.

Sculpture Garden

Amedeo Modigliani

A rare opportunity to see 11 paintings and one sculpture by the artist together.

East Building

Mark Rothko

Bodies in Space

Experience the rare chance to see paintings from across Rothko’s career, from early paintings of bodies to his monumental abstract canvases.

East Building, Tower Level
Five abstract paintings hanging on a white wall in a room with hardwood floors and a skylight.

Barnett Newman

The Stations of the Cross

This gallery presents what many consider American painter Barnett Newman’s greatest achievement.

East Building

Room-Like

Contemporary Art from the Collection

Immerse yourself in works that reimagine room-like spaces.

East Building

The Corcoran Collection

This room honors the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the first institution in the United States created specifically as an art museum.

West Building

The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection

See a selection of post-World War II American art ranging from expressionist to pop and abstract to figurative.

East Building
Military men marching in formation with rifles on their shoulders, backpacks, and drummer in the front. One man is on horseback with a sword in his hand.

The Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial

See a plaster version of Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s revolutionary memorial to the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, one of the first African American regiments formed in the North.

West Building

Thomas Cole

The Voyage of Life

See the Hudson River School painter's four-part series tracing a pilgrim’s journey through changing landscapes along the “River of Life” from childhood to old age.

West Building

Masterpieces of American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection, 1700–1830

An installation of nearly 100 examples of early American furniture and decorative arts.

West Building
A rooster woodcarving and a wooden rocking horse.

Women and the Index of American Design

Nearly 50 drawings examine women’s roles in the Depression-era art project that sought to document American designs in applied, decorative, and folk art.

West Building, Ground Floor

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Looking for an exhibition that ended?

Visit the archives to find exhibitions dating back to 1941.
See past exhibitions