Past Exhibitions

  • Cluster of pink orchids

    Orchids: Amazing Adaptations

    February 16, 2019 - April 28, 2019

    Escape the winter cold and step into a floral oasis in the Kogod Courtyard with Orchids: Amazing Adaptations.

  • Woman in a red dress standing against a patterned background

    New Co-Acquisition: Henrietta Lacks (HeLa): The Mother of Modern Medicine

    May 15, 2018 - March 31, 2019

    The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery recognizes the life of Henrietta Lacks with the installation of a 2017 portrait by Kadir Nelson.

  • Silhouetted face comprised of letters and numbers

    Black Out: Silhouettes Then and Now

    May 11, 2018 - March 17, 2019

    With both historical and contemporary explorations into the silhouette, Black Out reveals new pathways between our past and present.

    Final venue:
    Birmingham Museum of Art, AL / September 28, 2019 to January 12, 2020

  • Model of the POB see from above

    Celebrating Fifty Years

    August 11, 2017 - January 6, 2019
    Second floor

    In 1968, following major renovations, the Old Patent Office Building opened as the permanent home for two Smithsonian museums, the National Collection of Fine Arts (since renamed the Smithsonian American Art Museum) and the National Portrait Gallery. This exhibition marks the fiftieth anniversary of that grand event.

  • Marble sculpture of an African American woman and an older white woman facing each other

    UnSeen: Our Past in a New Light, Ken Gonzales-Day and Titus Kaphar

    May 31, 2018 - January 6, 2019

    The exhibition highlights the work of two leading contemporary artists who grapple with the under- and misrepresentation of certain minorities in portraiture and American history.

  • George H.W. Bush amidst a crown of soldiers in Saudi Arabia

    In Memoriam: George Herbert Walker Bush

    December 1, 2018 - January 2, 2019

    In memory of George Herbert Walker Bush, the National Portrait Gallery has added a drape to his portrait in the America's Presidents gallery.  Visitors may pay their respects and record their thoughts in a journal next to the portrait.

  • 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.

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