Exhibitions in Washington, DC
November 2027
November at a glance: 0 exhibitions opening, 3 closing, and 11 more on view across the city.
Closing in November
- Photographic Memory: Fifty Years of Collecting7 Nov
National Portrait Gallery · Free
The photographs department turns fifty with more than one hundred works spanning the daguerreian era to the digital age.
Gwen John: Strange Beauties28 NovNational Museum of Women in the Arts
The most comprehensive survey of Gwen John (1876-1939) in over 40 years, uniting her quiet oil portraits with rarely seen drawings and watercolours from Wales to Paris.
How Can You Forget Me: Filipino American Stories28 NovNational Museum of American History · Free
The overlooked history of a trailblazing Filipino community in California, from the 1910s to the 1970s.
Also on through November
- 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.
Vuillard and the Theaterto 23 JanThe 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 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.
Stay in the loop on Washington, DC
A short note now and then when something new opens worth your time.