From our museums in Washington, DC and New York City, to our traveling exhibitions in venues closer to home,
to our website and mobile apps, you will always find something worthwhile to discover and enjoy.
This 2024 pocket guide offers a small sample of the thousands of things to see and do at the
Smithsonian this year, all made possible thanks to the support of people like you.
June 8, 2019 - Permanent, National Museum of Natural History
The new David H. Koch Hall of Fossils showcases the museum's unrivaled collection of 46 million fossils re-positioned in new, dramatic, more scientifically-accurate positions, and presents the most up-to-date scientific research on how life on Earth has evolved.
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September 24, 2016 - Permanent, National Museum of African American History and Culture
As the centerpiece of the museum, this exhibition explores the complex story of slavery and freedom, a story standing at the core of our national experience.
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Summer 2017 - Permanent, National Museum of American History
At the heart of this nation lies a great search for balance between unity and pluralism. Many Voices: One Nation presents the five-hundred-year journey of how many distinct peoples and cultures met, mingled and created the culture of the United States.
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January 18, 2018 – 2027, National Museum of the American Indian
American Indian represent less than 1 percent of the U.S. population, yet names and images of Indians are everywhere: military weapons, town names, advertising and that holiday in November. American invites visitors to take a closer look, and to ask why.
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February 21, 2025 - June 22, 2025, Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
In 2023, the Smithsonian American Art Museum acquired thirty-five quilts from the collection of Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi. Mazloomi, who holds a doctorate in aerospace engineering, is a prolific artist, curator, and scholar. In 1981, she founded the African American Quilt Guild of Los Angeles, and then, in 1985, she founded the Women of Color Quilters Network, fulfilling the desire of isolated makers to connect and continue Black textile traditions. The selection of quilts acquired by the museum and featured in this exhibition is remarkable in its scope and groundbreaking in its representation of Black history and culture as told with needle and thread. This exhibition honors the legacy of Mazloomi and celebrates members of the Women of Color Quilters Network.
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March 15, 2025 - August 24, 2025, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Pushtimarg religious spaces feature monumental paintings of Krishna on cotton cloth known as pichwais. For the first time since the 1970s, these fourteen pichwais from the National Museum of Asian Art’s collections are on view for the public. These paintings are literally larger than life, averaging about eight by eight feet in size. Pichwais are made to serve as backdrops for three-dimensional displays, typically paired with icons of Krishna, music, and scents. This collection of pichwais dates from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, and most were painted in Nathdwara, Rajasthan, the global epicenter of the Pushtimarg community.
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April 4, 2025 - January 3, 2027, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Adam Pendleton: Love, Queen is landmark exhibition of new and recent paintings as well as a single-channel video work. For his first solo exhibition in Washington, D.C., Pendleton highlights his unique contributions to contemporary American painting while making use of the architecture of the museum and the history of the National Mall. Pendleton is known for his visually distinct and conceptually rigorous paintings that he begins on paper with drips, splatters, sprays, geometric shapes, words and phrases, and inky fragments reminiscent of broken letters. These visual experiments are at times carefully controlled and at others freely improvised. He photographs these initial compositions and then layers them using a screen-printing process, purposefully blurring the distinctions between the act of painting, the act of drawing and the act of photography.
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May 3, 2025 - March 1, 2026, National Portrait Gallery
The Outwin 2025: American Portraiture Today features 35 portraits (by 36 artists) from the museum’s seventh triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. The juried selection draws from more than 3,300 entries, and includes artist contributions from 14 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Taína Caragol, curator of painting, sculpture and Latine art and history for the National Portrait Gallery, is the director of the 2025 competition. She and Charlotte Ickes, curator of time-based media art and special projects for the Portrait Gallery, are co-organizing the exhibition.
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September 21, 2024 - January 12, 2025, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Monumental in size and boldly illustrated, the Great Mongol Shahnama is the most celebrated of all medieval Persian manuscripts. Considered Iran’s national epic, the Shahnama (Book of kings) was completed by the poet Firdawsi in 1010. The copy known as the Great Mongol Shahnama was produced three hundred years later, likely commissioned by ruler Abu Sa'id of the Ilkhanid dynasty, a branch of the Mongol Empire. Between the manuscript’s covers, art, power, and history intertwined. An Epic of Kings offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see twenty-five folios from this now dismantled manuscript. It is also the first exhibition to present paintings from the Great Mongol Shahnama alongside contemporaneous works from China, the Mediterranean, and the Latin West. Experience this unique historical moment of cultural exchange across Eurasia—where commodities, people, and ideas circulated like never before—with Iran at its center.
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November 18, 2022 - January 27, 2025, National Museum of African American History and Culture
Spirit in the Dark examines Black religious life through a selection of photographs from the Johnson Publishing Company, publisher of Ebony, Jet, and Negro Digest. The images in the exhibition spotlight noteworthy individuals—including religious and political leaders, musicians, authors, athletes, activists, and educators—and uplift objects from the museum’s collection, many on display for the first time. Together they reflect diverse aspects of the Black religious experience and testify to the role religion has played in the struggle for human dignity and social equality.
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April 26, 2024 - February 23, 2025, National Portrait Gallery
Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900 1939 illuminates the accomplishments of sixty unconventional women who pursued their personal and professional aspirations in Paris. As foreigners in a cosmopolitan center of culture, these “exiles” escaped the constraints that limited them at home. Many used their newfound freedom to pursue transformative experiments in a variety of fields, including art, literature, design, publishing, music, fashion, journalism, theater, and dance. An impressive number became prominent cultural arbiters, not merely participating in important modernist initiatives but orchestrating them. The progressive ventures they undertook while living abroad profoundly influenced American culture and opened new possibilities for women. Brilliant Exiles highlights the dynamic role of portraiture in articulating the new identities that American women were at liberty to develop in Paris.
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August 24, 2024 - February 23, 2025, National Postal Museum
The presidential election year is the appropriate time to reflect on past examples of national voting by mail. This exhibition includes objects from the National Postal Museum collection, including a mailed tally sheet from 1864 recording the votes of soldiers from Highland County, Ohio; an absentee ballot request postcard for an Alabama soldier during World War II; a 5-cent postage stamp reminding citizens to register and vote; and a complete absentee ballot kit and instruction sheet from the last presidential election in 2020.
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National Museum of the American Indian
This cafe features Native foods found throughout the Western Hemisphere, including the Northern Woodlands, South America, the Northwest Coast, Meso America and the Great Plains.
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National Museum of African American History and Culture
Sweet Home Café showcases the rich culture and history of the African American people with traditional, authentic offerings as well as present-day food traditions. * Access to the museum is limited and entry pass may be required
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Smithsonian Castle
An assortment of fresh baked goods, gelato and fresh fruit makes the Castle Café the perfect place for a quick snack. The café also offers a seasonal selection of sandwiches, salads, and soups.
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Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden
Located in the courtyard of the museum, Dolcezza offers locally sourced and handcrafted gelato, specialty espresso drinks, and gourmet pastries in a stunning contemporary setting designed by world-renowned artist Hiroshi Sugimoto.
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Fernbank Museum of Natural History, Atlanta, Georgia
January 11, 2025 - January 1, 2027
The Smithsonian’s National Collection of Fishes is the largest and most diverse collection of its kind, with an estimated four million individual fish specimens representing more than 70 percent of the world’s fish species. Encompassing males, females, juveniles, larvae, and even eggs, these specimens serve as a historical record of fish biodiversity and a working reference library for scientists around the world. The exhibition includes the digital files for 40 dramatic digital prints, which are paired with illustrated labels that explore the scientific, environmental, and photographic relevance of each specimen. Interpretive panels describe how the study of fish skeletons, fin spines, and teeth helps scientists differentiate one species from another and examine fish anatomy and evolutionary development. Other panels document the process of scientific digital image preparation and explore the critical role of such collection data in understanding the long-term effects of climate and planetary change on diverse species.
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Gunnison Arts Center, Gunnison, Colorado
January 8, 2025 - February 15, 2025
In 1900, about 40% of Americans lived in rural areas, By 2010, less than 18% of the U.S. population lived in rural areas. In just over a century, massive economic and social changes moved millions of Americans into urban areas. Yet, only 10% of the U.S. landmass is considered urban. Crossroads: Change in Rural America offers small towns a chance to look at their own paths to highlight the changes that affected their fortunes over the past century. The exhibition will prompt discussions about what happened when America’s rural population became a minority of the country’s population and the ripple effects that occurred.
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Oregon Museum of Science & Industry, Portland, Oregon
January 25, 2025 - July 6, 2025
The boreal forest holds stories written over thousands of years, stories of 500 billion trees, billions of migratory birds, millions of lakes and miles of rivers. The boreal forest stores more carbon that most tropical forests and plays a significant role in stabilizing our climate. The boreal forest is also home to hundreds of Sovereign Indigenous Nations and communities. Their ways of knowing nature offer a vision for a sustainable future. This timely exhibition integrates the themes of climate change, Indigenous perspectives and the relationship between people and nature. It takes audiences on a learning journey that starts with curiosity, builds empathy and leads to action. Knowing Nature offers stories of resilience, strength and hope in a changing world.
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Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center & State Museum, Kansas City, Missouri
February 1, 2025 - May 3, 2025
In December 1903, the Wright Brothers signaled the arrival of the new Air Age when they flew an airplane for twelve seconds at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. This moment signaled the beginning of America’s new fascination with flight. And while many African Americans shared the widespread enthusiasm for flight, this beginning coincided with an old tradition—racial discrimination. Blacks were soon denied access to formal training as pilots and mechanics. Despite these racial barriers, a powerful group of African American air enthusiasts emerged to challenge these obstacles and create their own legacy in the world of aviation. Black Wings: American Dreams of Flight chronicles this group.
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