Visit the Museums
Know Before You Go: Guidelines for Visiting
We’re delighted to welcome visitors back into our galleries! To keep us all safe, and to support efforts to help reduce the spread of COVID-19, we have limited capacity and new safety measures based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Please review the important information below as you plan your visit.
Timed-Entry Passes
For your safety we're limiting the number of guests in the museums and utilizing timed-entry passes for our main building.
If Sick, Stay Home
We’re asking all visitors who are sick or feel unwell to please stay home. If you are at increased risk of severe illness, you may also want to consider staying home.
Face Coverings
Visitors ages six and older are required to wear a face covering during their visit. Face coverings are also strongly recommended for visitors between the ages of two and six. Face shields or any kind of face covering or mask with an exhalation valve are not permitted. Face coverings should be worn over the nose and mouth. Face coverings may be removed while drinking in designated spaces.
Social Distancing
Please maintain a safe social distance of six feet or more between households or groups at all times. There will be social-distancing signage and directions throughout the museum.
Hygiene
Please wash and sanitize hands frequently during your visit and practice good hygiene. Hand-sanitizing stations will be available throughout the museum.
Personal Belongings
We encourage you to limit the number of personal belongings and bags you bring to SAAM and the Renwick Gallery. Suitcases, large umbrellas, and backpacks are not allowed in the galleries. Security officers may ask you to hand-carry smaller backpacks, or wear them on your front, to protect the artworks. Please note that we do not offer coat check or bag storage at this time. Strollers are permitted in the galleries.
Free, Timed-Entry Passes
Visitors to SAAM, regardless of age, must have a free, timed-entry pass to enter. Timed passes are not required for the Renwick Gallery.
Visitors can acquire timed-entry passes by reserving online or by phone at 1-800-514-3849, ext. 1.
Visitors will be able to secure up to six passes maximum for personal use only.
For the safety of our visitors and staff, groups larger than six are strictly prohibited.
All children (under the age of 18) must be accompanied by an adult chaperone. At least one adult chaperone is required to accompany up to five children.
The last timed-entry admittance is at 6 p.m. to ensure visitors have ample time in the galleries.
Passes may not be sold or transferred. Passes are valid only for the issued date and time and void if altered.
Visitors can choose to print timed-entry passes at home or show their timed-entry passes on their phone or other mobile device. Printed and digital passes will be scanned at the museum’s entrance at 8th and G Streets NW.
Each pass allows for one (1) re-entry opportunity on the date specified on the pass.
Visiting Tips: What’s New
As a health and safety precaution, we are not offering printed floor plans at this time. To find your way around you may use the museum’s free Wi-Fi to access a digital Smithsonian American Art Museum Map [PDF] and a digital Renwick Gallery Map [PDF].
Bringing in outside food is not permitted at either location. Closed water bottles are allowed in designated areas. The museum stores are closed currently.
The entrance to SAAM's main building, at 8th and G Streets NW, is the only open entrance at this time; the museum’s F Street entrance is closed temporarily.
The Courtyard Café is temporarily closed. Please check back for store updates or shop online. Tables and seating have been removed from the Kogod Courtyard and the Luce Foundation Center to promote safe social distancing.
Our Locations
The Smithsonian American Art Museum shares its collections, programs, and exhibitions in two locations in Washington, DC. SAAM’s main building is located at the heart of a vibrant downtown cultural district, while its branch museum for contemporary craft and decorative art, the Renwick Gallery, is located nine blocks west, near the White House.
More on Visiting SAAM
American art museum featuring works from the colonial era to the present
8th and G Streets, NW
Washington, DC 20004
More on Visiting Renwick
Branch museum featuring contemporary craft and decorative arts
Pennsylvania Avenue at 17th Street NW
Washington, DC 20006
Exhibitions at SAAM
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Alexander von Humboldt and the United States: Art, Nature, and Culture
September 18, 2020 — January 3, 2021Smithsonian American Art Museum (8th and G Streets, NW)This exhibition reveals how the influential naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) shaped American perceptions of nature and the way American cultural identity became grounded in our relationship with the environment.
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The Automobile and American Art
September 18, 2020 - OngoingSmithsonian American Art Museum (8th and G Streets, NW)Take a road trip through SAAM’s collection to find links between automobiles and American art, inspired by Albert H. Small’s gift of model cars.
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Picturing the American Buffalo: George Catlin and Modern Native American Artists
October 11, 2019 — May 2, 2021Smithsonian American Art Museum (8th and G Streets, NW)Picturing the American Buffalo: George Catlin and Modern Native American Artists examines representations of buffalo and their integration into the lives of Native Americans on the Great Plains in the 1830s and in the twentieth century.
Exhibitions at Renwick
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Janet Echelman’s 1.8 Renwick
September 18, 2020 — 2022Renwick Gallery (Pennsylvania Avenue at 17th Street NW)Janet Echelman's colorful fiber and lighting installation, suspended from the ceiling of the Renwick Gallery's Grand Salon, examines the complex interconnections between human beings and our physical world, and reveals the artist's fascination with the measurement of time. -
Connections: Contemporary Craft at the Renwick Gallery
March 12, 2019 — March 6, 2022Renwick Gallery (Pennsylvania Avenue at 17th Street NW)Connections is the Renwick Gallery’s dynamic ongoing permanent collection presentation, featuring more than 80 objects celebrating craft as a discipline and an approach to living differently in the modern world. The installation includes iconic favorites alongside new acquisitions.
COVID-19 is an extremely contagious disease that is believed to mainly spread from person-to-person contact. The Smithsonian is doing its part to mitigate transmission intensity, and we ask you, our visitors, to do the same and help us reduce the spread of COVID-19. You must follow all posted instructions while visiting the Smithsonian, including instructions about wearing face coverings and social distancing. Despite these measures, the risk of contracting COVID-19 could increase by visiting the Smithsonian. By visiting the Smithsonian, you voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19.
The Smithsonian reserves the right to modify its hours of operations, capacity, or visitor guidelines as circumstances require and to deny entry or access to any person who fails to follow these guidelines or whose conduct puts Smithsonian staff, visitors, or property at risk.