Exhibitions in Washington, DC

December 2027

December at a glance: 0 exhibitions opening, 0 closing, and 11 more on view across the city.

We Make History exhibition graphic, Anacostia Community Museum

Diamond and conch pearl brooch from Marjorie Merriweather Post's jewellery collection

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Indian, Indio, Indigenous (1992): a horizontal canvas combining collaged map scraps, comic strips, cloth swatches and dripped paint with scrawled phrases.

Treaty documents and Native diplomatic objects displayed in Nation to Nation

Édouard Vuillard, Yvonne Printemps on Her Sofa (1919-21), Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa

Also on through December

Adorned in Gold: Japanese Lacquer from the Jacqueline Avant Collectionto 2 Jan
National Museum of Asian Art · Free
Edo-period maki-e lacquer from the collection of philanthropist Jacqueline Avant: gold-on-black hairpins, combs, boxes and a princess's litter.
We Make Historyto 2 Jan
Anacostia Community Museum · Free
Ahead of the museum's 60th anniversary, this show asks how Washingtonians keep their own history - anchored by the diary of Adam Francis Plummer, with letters, photographs and hands-on archiving stations.
The Connoisseur's Closet: The Fashion and Jewelry of Marjorie Merriweather Postto 9 Jan
Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens
Hillwood revisits Post's wardrobe for the first time in a decade, drawing on nearly 300 garments and 600 jewels from a childhood christening gown to Belle Epoque couture and later daytime suits.
Remix: The Collectionto 16 Jan
National Museum of Women in the Arts
The museum-wide collection installation, rejecting chronology for themes like Photo Credit, Seeing Red and Objectified across six continents and six centuries of women artists.
Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nationsto 17 Jan
National Museum of the American Indian · Free
Original treaties on loan from the National Archives, wampum belts and peace medals tell the story of US–Native diplomacy from the colonial era to the present.
Vuillard and the Theaterto 23 Jan
The Phillips Collection
Around 70 paintings, 30 works on paper and theatre ephemera from the 1890s to the 1930s, tracing Édouard Vuillard's life as spectator, director and scenographer. Co-organised with the Musée d'Orsay.
Meserve Collection Highlights: Modern Prints from Mathew Brady's Portrait Negativesto 14 May
National Portrait Gallery · Free
Nine modern prints struck from Mathew Brady's original Civil War-era negatives — Lincoln, Hawthorne, Grant and Emma, Queen of Hawai'i — shown with a glass plate and Brady's wooden storage box.
¡Puro Ritmo! The Musical Journey of Salsato 26 Nov
National Museum of American History · Free
From the streets of Havana to the dance floors of New York and beyond, this bilingual show traces how salsa grew into a defining sound of the United States.
Do Ho Suh: Public Figuresto 29 Apr
National Museum of Asian Art · Free
On the Freer plaza facing the National Mall, a monumental empty plinth held aloft by hundreds of small striding figures, questioning who monuments are for.
Bison: Standing Strongto 31 May
National Museum of Natural History · Free
America's national mammal, from 100,000 years of shaping the prairie to near-extinction and recovery. A six-foot bull bison, an ancient bison skull and a North American prairie soundscape.
From These Lands: Sharing Our Natural and Cultural Heritageto 31 Dec
National Museum of Natural History · Free
More than 600 specimens and cultural belongings from all 50 states, DC and five US territories — fossils, minerals and treasures chosen to represent every corner of the country.

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