Past Exhibitions

  • colorful painting of a group of young Asian women

    Hung Liu: Portraits of Promised Lands

    August 27, 2021 - May 30, 2022

    The National Portrait Gallery presents the first large-scale retrospective of work by Hung Liu, the acclaimed Chinese-born American artist.

  • View of pink orchids

    Orchids: Hidden Stories of Groundbreaking Women

    January 29, 2022 - April 24, 2022

    Escape the winter cold and step into a floral oasis in the Kogod Courtyard with Orchids: Hidden Stories of Groundbreaking Women. 

  • Woman in a Civil War Union uniform

    Storied Women of the Civil War Era

    May 24, 2019 - March 20, 2022

    During the Civil War era, numerous women rose to national prominence—from First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln to Union spy Pauline Cushman. 

     

  • two small girls in patterned dresses

    “Warranted to Give Satisfaction”: Daguerreotypes by Jeremiah Gurney

    June 25, 2021 - February 6, 2022

    Over the course of nearly two decades in the mid-19th century,  Jeremiah Gurney established himself not only as a masterful daguerreotype technician but also as an uncompromising artist whose prizewinning work was often unmatched in its quality. 

  • brown-toned painting of a man in a cowboy hat with a lasso

    One Life: Will Rogers

    June 25, 2021 - January 30, 2022

    A prolific political commentator whose comedic wit crossed social divides, Will Roger's career spanned vaudeville, silent films, “talkies,” radio, and newspaper. 

    Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the exhibition One Life: Will Rogers is online only and will not be installed in the museum galleries.

  • woman standing next to a large photo of herself

    Her Story: A Century of Women Writers

    September 18, 2020 - January 23, 2022

    “Her Story: A Century of Women Writers” will highlight 24 noted women writers from the last one hundred years who are represented in the Portrait Gallery’s collection.

     

  • two portraits of an African American man in a suit and tie

    Visionary: The Cumming Family Collection (Part 2)

    December 4, 2020 - October 31, 2021

    The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery presents “Visionary: The Cumming Family Collection,” revealing the results of more than 25 years of inspired collecting by Ian and Annette Cumming and installed in two parts. Part two, featured here, includes portraits by American artists Jack Beal, Chuck Close and Nelson Shanks.

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