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
February 21, 2025–June 22, 2025
Artists featured in We Gather at the Edge honor the Black story quilt tradition with work that envisions a more just and connected world.
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
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
A new exhibition that restores three American women of Japanese descent to their rightful place in the story of modernism
SAAM
Artist
Date2012
commercial cotton fabric, rayon, linen, chiffon, batik fabric, cotton batting, acrylic paint, and polyester fabric
Featured Video
"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.
“With Drawn Arms” Post-Film Screening Panel Discussion
Glenn Kaino joined Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution Lonnie G. Bunch III and sports journalist and professor Kevin Blackistone for a conversation about his powerful aerial sculpture Bridge, on view in SAAM’s Luce Foundation Center.
Meet the Artist: Mickalene Thomas on Her Materials and Artistic Influences
Artist Mickalene Thomas discusses her use of craft materials, her artistic influences, and the importance of seeing oneself represented in museums.