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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The ’70s Lens: Reimagining Documentary Photography
Closed April 6, 2025

See how documentary photography transformed during the 1970s.

Spirit & Strength: Modern Art from Haiti
Closed March 9, 2025

Learn about some of the most celebrated Haitian artists of the 20th century.

The painting shows a person who stands with their hands on their hips. Their skin is light brown, and they have thick, arched eyebrows, a pointed nose that appears to have a dark piercing in the side, and a slightly downturned mouth. They wear a large golden hoop earring and several strands of multicolored beads around their neck. Their dark hair is covered with a white head wrap that has a knot at the top. The person is dressed in a vivid dress that includes rich hues of blue, red, yellow, and white, complete with a dark red sash across their waist. A long, brown, curved object is tucked inside their belt, and brown and yellow patterned satchel is slung across their body. The background is a light blue color with patterns of red, white and blue starbursts surrounded by red, blue, white and yellow dots in circular formations scattered across the canvas. The painting is signed "A. Pierre" at the bottom right.
Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment
Closed January 19, 2025

How did impressionism begin? Discover the origins of the French art movement in a new look at the radical 1874 exhibition considered the birth of modern painting.

In the Library: Life in the Impressionists’ Paris
Closed January 17, 2025
Gordon Parks: Camera Portraits from the Corcoran Collection
Closed January 12, 2025

See powerful portraits by one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century.

 

This black-and-white photograph depicts two individuals, a man and a woman, both with dark skin. The man is on the left, wearing a black suit with a white shirt under it and a tie decorated with abstract circles and lines. He wears a light, wide-brimmed hat and glasses, has a cigar in his mouth, and holds a closed book. The woman on the right has her dark hair gathered up on the top of her head under an elaborate hat. She wears a dress with short sleeves and white buttons on the front. The two figures have their arms interlaced. They both look at the viewer with neutral expressions. Behind them appears to be a residential area; there are houses on the left and right, separated by a tree-lined street.
In the Library: Photography and the Book Arts from the 21st Editions Collection
Closed August 29, 2024
Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction
Closed July 28, 2024
The Anxious Eye: German Expressionism and Its Legacy
Closed May 27, 2024
In the Library: Latin American Architecture in Circulation
Closed April 26, 2024
In the Library: Will’s World—European Literature in Shakespeare’s time
Closed December 29, 2023

See selected old and rare books from our special collections, including both classical and modern literary sources, that inspired playwrights like William Shakespeare.

Mark Rothko: Paintings on Paper
Closed March 31, 2024

See more than 100 of Mark Rothko’s most compelling paintings on paper, many on view for the first time. They range from early figurative subjects and surrealist works to the soft-edged rectangular fields, often realized at monumental scale, for which Rothko is best known.

Conversations: Kerry James Marshall and John Singleton Copley
Closed January 31, 2025

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