Art + Artists

Featured Exhibitions

 The Protagonist of an Endless Story by Angel Rodríguez-Díaz
Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea
July 28, 2023January 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.
Tour Dates
  • 1
    Smithsonian American Art Museum
    Washington, DC
    July 28, 2023January 14, 2024
Media - 2020.54.1 - SAAM-2020.54.1_2 - 139600
Musical Thinking: New Video Art and Sonic Strategies
June 23, 2023January 29, 2024
Musical Thinking explores the powerful resonances between recent video art and popular music.
Artist Lily Hope with an ornamental headdress
Sharing Honors and Burdens: Renwick Invitational 2023
May 26, 2023March 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.
Quilted artwork depicting eight African American soldiers
Contemporary Craft at the Renwick Gallery
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.
Media - 1967.129 - SAAM-1967.129_1 - 65164
Artist to Artist
October 1, 2021May 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.

Collection Highlights

Something Fun

A black and white drawing of cakes by Wayne Thiebaud

See which artist shares your birthday.

A colorful illustrated banner depicting ten women artists.

Discover more inspiring stories about trailblazing women artists in the 2022 edition of SAAM's online comic series Drawn to Art: Ten Tales of Inspiring Women Artists. This year we celebrate Judy Baca, Tiffany Chung, Sonya Clark, Sarah Goodridge, Ester Hernandez, Loïs Mailou Jones, Nellie Mae Rowe, Augusta Savage, Jaune Quick-To-See Smith (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation) and Kay WalkingStick (Cherokee Nation).