Past Exhibitions

Learn about past exhibitions going back as far as 1941 when the National Gallery of Art first opened to the public.

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In the Library: Photobooks and American Energy
Closed August 22, 2026

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

Beneath the Surface
Mining and American Photography
Closed August 23, 2026

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

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.
In the Library: Mary Cassatt’s American Legacy
Closed May 15, 2026

The National Gallery of Art Library presents an installation of archival photographs, rare catalogs, and documentation—including Cassatt’s correspondence—that explore the artist’s American ties. 

Mary Cassatt
An American in Paris
Closed August 30, 2026

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

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.”
Dario Robleto
Small Crafts on Sisyphean Seas
Closed December 18, 2025

Marvel at this large glass case contains objects of wonder.

In the Library
Paper as Inspiration in Artists’ Books
Closed February 6, 2026

Explore dozens of artists’ books from the Library’s special collections that expand what a book can be.

The Stars We Do Not See
Australian Indigenous Art
Closed March 1, 2026

Mark your calendar for this once-in-a-lifetime exhibition of modern and contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and design.

Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985
Closed January 11, 2026

The first exhibition to consider photography’s impact on a cultural and aesthetic movement that celebrated Black history, identity, and beauty.

The image shows a young woman leaning against the rear of a classic car on a street. She rests her elbow on the car's trunk, supporting her chin with her hand. The woman's face is turned towards the camera, showing her dark eyes and short, voluminous black hair. She wears a long-sleeved dress with swirling green and pink colors, a white bracelet on her right wrist, and a circular pendant necklace. The background includes a tree-lined street with parked cars and blurred traffic.
American Landscapes in Watercolor from the Corcoran Collection
Closed February 1, 2026

Two centuries of watercolors capture the nation’s beauty from sea to shining sea.

Two men on logs surrounded by the rapids of the Hudson River with green trees on both sides and a blue sky with white puffy clouds.
With Passion and Purpose
Gifts from the Collection of Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson
Closed October 5, 2025

See standout works by Black artists from the past century, newly gifted to the Nation.

This appears to be a collage or a blue-toned photograph that has been painted over. In the center is the blue-toned photograph, which depicts a blurry crowd of people who face away from us, looking towards the windows of a train on the left. People seem to lean out of the windows of the train, looking towards the crowd below them. Surrounding this central photograph are the painted designs of abstract leaves and branches, along with brightly-colored squares and rectangles in orange, green, blue, and purple hues.
In the Library: Animal Illustration in Europe, 1550–1750
Closed October 31, 2025

Explore the world of animal illustrations at the dawn of European natural history, when scientific discovery and imagination combined. Peek into nearly 40 works from the Library’s rare book collection.  

Little Beasts: Art, Wonder, and the Natural World
Closed November 2, 2025

Experience the wonder of nature through the eyes of artists. Look closely at art depicting insects and other animals alongside real specimens.

Several insects such as a bees, butterflies, moths, ladybugs, beetles, and more, crawling on and around a fig branch.

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