Welcome to the Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery
Explore the sweep of the American imagination across four centuries at the nation's flagship museum for American art and craft. Dive into inspiring artworks, the reimagined collection, and an array of special exhibitions including Glenn Kaino: Bridge. Experience our offerings both online and in person at our two locations, including national educational programs, innovative research, video interviews with artists, virtual artist studio tours, lectures, audio guides, and more. Admission is always free.
Featured Exhibitions
July 3, 2025–July 12, 2026
Shahzia Sikander’s video artwork The Last Post (2010) critically considers the legacy of British colonialism in Asia using her signature approach of infusing Indo-Persian miniature paintings with a contemporary perspective.
November 15, 2024 – August 17, 2025
Pictures of Belonging celebrates three trailblazing Japanese American women artists and asserts their rightful place in American art.
November 8, 2024–September 14, 2025
SAAM's groundbreaking exhibition examines the ways in which American sculpture has shaped and reflected attitudes and understandings about race in the United States.
Featured Stories
Carolyn Mazloomi on the importance of art and community in her life.
Howard Kaplan
Writer
Finding ourselves in art, objects, and stories.
Howard Kaplan
Writer
Sir Isaac Julien’s moving image installation "Lessons of the Hour" interweaves period reenactments across five screens to create a vivid picture of nineteenth-century activist, writer, orator, and philosopher Frederick Douglass.
Saisha Grayson
Curator of Time-Based Media
Featured Video
Meet the Artist: Carolyn Mazloomi
Scholar, artist, and curator Dr. Carolyn Mazloomi shares the important role of quilt making in her life.
"Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo" Introduction
Melissa Ho, curator of twentieth-century art at SAAM, discusses the lives and work of three trailblazing Japanese American women artists.
Nam June Paik's "Electronic Superhighway" - American Art Moments
Take a trip across the USA and explore the technology, historic events, pop culture references, and more included within this monumental map of the United States.