Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery

A person stands on a balcony and looks up at an artwork made of golden cast arms.
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 and an array of special exhibitions.  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.

The galleries for 18th to early 20th century art are temporarily closed to the public until Summer 2026. 

Featured Exhibitions

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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.
A collage with an illustration of a man with a red waist coat in the center.
Shahzia Sikander: The Last Post
July 3, 2025–July 12, 2026
Smithsonian American Art Museum
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. 
Five screen installation showing period reenactments of nineteenth-century activist Frederick Douglass.
Isaac Julien: Lessons of the Hour — Frederick Douglass
December 8, 2023 — December 6, 2026
Smithsonian American Art Museum
A presentation of Isaac Julien’s tour de force moving image installation that interweaves period reenactments across five screens to create a vivid picture of nineteenth-century activist, writer, orator, and philosopher Frederick Douglass.

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