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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Etched by Light: Photogravures from the Collection, 1840–1940
Closed February 4, 2024

Discover an intriguing chapter in the history of photography.

The Land Carries Our Ancestors: Contemporary Art by Native Americans
Closed January 15, 2024

Curated by artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, this exhibition includes some 50 living Native American artists. These artists visualize Indigenous knowledge of land/landbase/landscape through diverse mediums such as weaving, sculpture, beadwork, painting, performance, drawing, video, and more.

Canova: Sketching in Clay
Closed October 9, 2023

Canova produced dazzling sketch models and finished models in clay which helped him plan his designs for his large statues in marble. Nearly 40 of the some 60 of his surviving models reveal the artist’s extraordinary working process that led to the creation of some of the most iconic sculptures.

Drawing in Britain, 1700–1900: New Additions to the Collection
Closed August 6, 2023

Discover nearly 80 recently acquired drawings and watercolors showing an overview of two centuries of British art. See the development of watercolor as a national specialty, the varied approaches during the Victorian era, landscapes, portraits, history scenes, nude studies, and art by British women.

Robert Longo Drawings: Engines of State
Closed June 11, 2023

Depicting the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the United States government, Robert Longo’s drawings are based on preexisting photographs and video images he combines or alters, translating them with painstaking detail into charcoal.

Philip Guston Now
Closed August 27, 2023
Looking Up: Studies for Ceilings, 1550–1800
Closed July 9, 2023

In modern architecture and contemporary interior design, ceilings have lost much of their original, complex meaning, becoming neutral fields or featuring generic decoration. However, in the European tradition that spanned nearly four centuries, ceilings were where the most ambitious, compelling, and meaningful painted compositions appeared.

This is Britain: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s
Closed June 11, 2023

This exhibition brings together the work of a generation of British photographers of the 1970s and 1980s like Vanley Burke, Pogus Caesar, Anna Fox, Paul Graham, Sunil Gupta, Chris Killip, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Martin Parr, and others.

Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice
Closed February 12, 2023

Don’t miss large-scale canvases painted for charitable societies alongside smaller works that originally decorated the homes of prosperous Venetians. Some 45 paintings and 30 drawings including The Scuola degli Schiavoni and The Virgin Reading.

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