Past Exhibitions

  • 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

     

  • Black and white portrait of a man in a white suit

    In Memoriam: Tom Wolfe

    May 16, 2018 - June 3, 2018

    The National Portrait Gallery recognizes the life of acclaimed journalist and author Tom Wolfe with a photograph by Yousuf Karsh.

  • young woman with dark hair and bangs (Sylvia Plath)

    One Life: Sylvia Plath

    June 30, 2017 - May 20, 2018
    First floor

    “One Life: Sylvia Plath” is the first exploration of the poet and writer’s life in an art and history museum. The exhibition reveals how Plath shaped her identity visually as she came of age as a writer in the 1950s.

    Image: Sylvia Plath by Rollie McKenna / 1959 (printed later), Gelatin silver print / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Rollie McKenna © Rosalie Thorne McKenna Foundation, courtesy Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona Foundation

     

  • Woman in a black coat standing on a green lawn with a dog

    In Memoriam: Barbara Bush

    April 18, 2018 - April 29, 2018

    The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery recognizes the life of Barbara Bush with a photograph by Diana Walker taken in 1989.

  • African American man with his chin resting on his crossed hands

    Remembering Martin Luther King Jr.

    April 4, 2018 - April 17, 2018

    The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery celebrates the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. by displaying his likeness by Jack Lewis Hiller. The photograph will be on view beginning April 4 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the influential civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient’s assassination.

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