Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery

Detail of "Nick Cave: Mammoth."
Smithsonian American Art Museum & Renwick Gallery

Featured Exhibitions

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Detail of "Nick Cave: Mammoth."
Nick Cave: Mammoth
February 13, 2026–January 3, 2027
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Artist Nick Cave invites visitors to walk among the fantastical remains of these ancient creatures.
Painting of rolling green hills with people an
Grandma Moses: A Good Day’s Work
November 25, 2025–July 12, 2026
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Grandma Moses: A Good Day's Work sheds new light on a beloved body of work by the artist.
Tour Dates
  • 1
    Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
    Bentonville, AR
    September 12, 2026–March 29, 2027
Crop art with the title State Fairs: Growing American Craft and a cow's head in the center.
State Fairs: Growing American Craft
August 22, 2025–September 7, 2026
Renwick Gallery
State Fairs: Growing American Craft is the first major exhibition dedicated to artists’ contributions to the great U.S. tradition of state fairs.

Upcoming Featured Events

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Featured Stories

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Large-scale installation of corncob piñatas.
Latino ArtContemporary Craft10/01/2025
The Fantastical World of Justin Favela
Gold-fringed walls and piñata corncobs transform the Grand Salon of SAAM's Renwick Gallery and highlight the role of maize in North American visual culture.
Headshot of woman with black hair
Rebekah Mejorado
Public Relations Specialist
Detail of black and white quilt with rows of stylized human figures.
African American ArtFrom the Collection06/18/2025
Making Quilts and Preserving Black History
Carolyn Mazloomi on the importance of art and community in her life.
A photograph of Howard Kaplan on a plane.
Howard Kaplan
Writer

New Acquisitions

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Aaron Douglas, Inspiration, 1967, oil on canvas panel, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Steven L. Jones in memory of his father Dr. William M. Jones Sr., Chicago educator and a storyteller for the soul, and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2024.36
Inspiration
Artist
Date1967
oil on canvas panel
On view
Cecilia Vicuña, Quipu Viscera, 2017, version 2025, site-specific installation of dyed and unspun wool, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the American Women's History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative, 2023.28A-B, © 2023, Cecilia Vicuña
Quipu Viscera
Artist
Date2017, version 2025
site-specific installation of dyed and unspun wool
Not on view
Binh Danh, El Capitan in Winter, Yosemite, June 20, 2014, 2014, daguerreotype, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible in part by the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment and the William and Christine Ragland Family Photography Endowment, 2025.3.4, © Bihn Dahn. Image courtesy of Binh Danh.
El Capitan in Winter, Yosemite, June 20, 2014
Artist
Date2014
daguerreotype
Not on view
Joey Terrill, A Bigger Piece, 2008, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2025.5, Image courtesy of the artist, Ortuzar, New York and Marc Selwyn Fine Arts, Los Angeles. Photo: Steven Probert. Artwork © Joey Terrill
A Bigger Piece
Artist
Date2008
acrylic and mixed media on canvas
On view