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. Inspiring artworks and special exhibitions online and in person at our two locations. National educational offerings. Innovative research. Video interviews with artists and virtual studio tours, lectures and more. Admission is always free.
Featured Exhibitions
July 28, 2023–January 14, 2024
Ideas about the American West, both in popular culture and in commonly accepted historical narratives, are often based on a past that never was, and fail to take into account important events that actually occurred.
June 23, 2023–January 29, 2024
Musical Thinking explores the powerful resonances between recent video art and popular music.
May 26, 2023–March 31, 2024
Artists Joe Feddersen (Arrow Lakes/Okanagan), Lily Hope (Tlingit), Ursala Hudson (Tlingit), Erica Lord (Athabaskan/Iñupiat), Geo Neptune (Passamaquoddy), and Maggie Thompson (Fond du Lac Ojibwe) present a fresh and nuanced vision of Native American art.
Ongoing
SAAM’s branch location for contemporary craft, the Renwick Gallery, showcases the dynamic landscape of American craft today. Currently on view are more than 100 works in a range of mediums from fiber and ceramics to glass, metal, wood, and mixed media.
October 1, 2021–May 18, 2025
Artist to Artist features paired artworks, each representing two figures whose trajectories intersected at a creatively crucial moment, whether as student and teacher, professional allies, or friends.
Upcoming Featured Events
Featured Stories
09/01/2023
The second part of an interview with Tom di Maria, director emeritus of the Creative Growth Art Center
08/18/2023
A personal journal by museum educator Geoffrey Cohrs
08/03/2023
Celebrating the renowned artist with a comic about her life and work
07/28/2023
Many Wests brings a reimagining of this iconic region to SAAM
07/20/2023
An in-depth look at Lily Hope and Ursala Hudson’s work and the traditions behind Chilkat weavings
SAAM
07/07/2023
SAAM's director on current exhibitions, acquisitions, and the newly reimagined and reinstalled modern and contemporary galleries
Artist
Date2018-2020
Performance. Unique objects worn by artist/performer (glass, neoprene, rusted metal fragments of U.S./Mexico border fence, leather, cotton twine, flashlight) and photodocumentation of the performance (digital files)
Featured Video
Bisa Butler’s "The Harlem Hellfighters" - American Art Moments
Get to know the historic figures behind Bisa Butler’s monumental quilt and discover the artistry Butler uses to pay homage to the soldiers.
“Sharing Honors and Burdens: Renwick Invitational 2023” Introduction
Sharing Honors and Burdens: Renwick Invitational 2023 focuses on fresh and nuanced visions by six Native American or Alaska Native artists who express the honors and burdens that connect people to one another.
“Musical Thinking: New Video Art and Sonic Strategies" Introduction
Musical Thinking: New Video Art and Sonic Strategies explores the powerful resonances between recent video art and popular music. On view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum from June 23, 2023-January 29, 2024, the exhibition features 10 leading contemporary artists who use “musical thinking” in their art.