Past Exhibitions

  • Woman lecturing a scholarly audience

    Director’s Essay Prize For Emerging Scholars in the Field of Portraiture

    September 14, 2018 - December 14, 2018

    In honor of the National Portrait Gallery’s 50th anniversary, the museum has announced the newly founded Director’s Essay Prize.

     

  • Woman with long black hair in a red dress against a yellow background

    Portraits of the World: Switzerland

    December 15, 2017 - November 12, 2018

    “Portraits of the World: Switzerland” is the inaugural exhibition of a series that will highlight the global context of American portraiture.

  • Man standing in front of the columns of the Capitol

    In Memoriam: John McCain

    August 27, 2018 - September 9, 2018

    The National Portrait Gallery recognized the life and legacy of late Senator and former presidential nominee John S. McCain III with a photograph by the British-born photographer Steve Pyke.

  • (Lathe operator—woman in yellow hat)

    The Sweat of Their Face: Portraying American Workers

    November 3, 2017 - September 3, 2018

    “The Sweat of Their Face” combines art and social history with representations of American laborers across genres and centuries of art.

     

  • Man conducting an orchestra

    Celebrate: Leonard Bernstein’s 100th Birthday

    August 23, 2018 - August 27, 2018

    Aug. 25 marks the 100th birthday of the late American composer, conductor, author, music lecturer and pianist Leonard Bernstein.

  • Colorful poster of a woman singing

    In Memoriam: Aretha Franklin

    August 17, 2018 - August 22, 2018

    The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery recognizes the life of acclaimed singer and musician Aretha Franklin.

  • Daguerreotype of an older woman (Dolley Madison) and a younger woman (Anna Payne)

    Antebellum Portraits by Mathew Brady

    June 16, 2017 - June 3, 2018
    First floor

    This Daguerreian Gallery exhibition will trace the trajectory of Brady’s early career through portrait daguerreotypes, ambrotypes and salted-paper prints in the National Portrait Gallery’s collection.

    Image: Dolley Madison and Anna Payne / Unidentified Artist, copy after: Mathew B. Brady / c. 1848, Quarter-plate daguerreotype / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Dortha Louise Dobson Adem Rogus, direct descendant of Dolley Madison

     

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