Exhibitions in Washington, DC
July 2027
July at a glance: 1 exhibition opening, 3 closing, and 17 more on view across the city.
Opening in July
Closing in July
- The Declaration's Promise: A Revolutionary Idea3 Jul
Library of Congress · Free
Library collections trace how Americans have argued with, rallied around and reached for the Declaration of Independence — its ideals of equality, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Big Things for Big Rooms4 JulHirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden · Free
Ten room-swallowing installations trace immersive art from the late 1960s on — Flavin, Gilliam, Irwin, Pape and Long, then Chan, Eliasson, Finch, Johnson and Rottenberg. Five shown here for the first time.
Free and Independent: A Celebration of the Declaration5 JulNational Archives Museum · Free
America250 show marking the Declaration's 250th anniversary, in three parts: the Revolution, the preservation of the original parchment, and how Americans have celebrated independence since 1776.
Also on through July
A Museum in the Makingto 1 AugNational Museum of Asian Art · Free
How Charles Lang Freer used his Detroit home as a proving ground for what became the first national art museum of the United States.
Women to Watch 2027: A Book Arts Revolutionto 8 AugNational Museum of Women in the Arts
NMWA's hallmark biennial series returns with contemporary artists' books: sculptural, printed and paper works that rethink what a book can be, chosen with the museum's global committees.
Bisa Butler: Tender Monumentsto 22 AugSmithsonian American Art Museum · Free
A mid-career survey of nearly forty of Bisa Butler's large-scale quilted portraits, shown alongside work by influences including Faith Ringgold and Betye Saar.
Juan Sánchez: States of Liberationto 12 SeptThe Phillips Collection
A 75-work retrospective of the founding Latinx artist Juan Sánchez (b. 1954), grouped as Autobiography, Community, Nation and Utopia. Co-organised with the Whitney and Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico.
Portrait of a Nation: 2025 Honoreesto 17 OctNational Portrait Gallery · Free
New portraits of the 2025 award winners — Jamie Dimon, Temple Grandin, Joy Harjo and Steven Spielberg — including commissions by David Lenz and Kate Capshaw.
- Photographic Memory: Fifty Years of Collectingto 7 Nov
National Portrait Gallery · Free
The photographs department turns fifty with more than one hundred works spanning the daguerreian era to the digital age.
How Can You Forget Me: Filipino American Storiesto 28 NovNational Museum of American History · Free
The overlooked history of a trailblazing Filipino community in California, from the 1910s to the 1970s.
- 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 JanAnacostia 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 JanHillwood 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 JanNational 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 JanNational 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.
Meserve Collection Highlights: Modern Prints from Mathew Brady's Portrait Negativesto 14 MayNational 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 NovNational 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 MayNational 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 DecNational 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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A short note now and then when something new opens worth your time.