Exhibitions

The first comprehensive survey of the richly layered work of Simone Leigh, among the most respected artists of her generation.

Shelley Niro: 500 Year Itch celebrates more than a half century of Shelley Niro’s paintings, photographs, mixed-media works, and films.

Put It This Way is devoted to the work of nearly 50 women and nonbinary artists in the Hirshhorn’s collection.

The exhibition features a recent body of work in the form of a monumental cycle of 40 large-scale, monochromatic drawings that chronicle a myth conceived by the artist.

Laurie Anderson: The Weather is the largest-ever U.S. exhibition of artwork by celebrated multimedia artist Laurie Anderson. 

Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists, organized by the Minneapolis Institute of Art, is the first major thematic exhibition to explore the artistic achievements of Native women.

On view are more than 75 vibrant and varied personal statements from artists from 1976 and now that elucidate the contours of feminist art.

The Hirshhorn hosts the largest site-specific exhibition to date by the acclaimed abstract painter Pat Steir.

Murder is Her Hobby: Frances Glessner Lee and The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death explores the unexpected intersection between craft and forensic science.

In celebration of the tenth anniversary of Yoko Ono’s Wish Tree for Washington, DC, the Hirshhorn presents a selection of the artist’s most iconic and emotionally charged installations and performances.

This major retrospective of the Cherokee artist Kay WalkingStick, includes 75 of her most notable works, primarily paintings on board and canvas as well as a selection of works on paper and small sculpture.

See pins from former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's collection, highlighting her use of jewelry as a tool of diplomacy and capturing her wit.

Visit 39 works that chronicle the social, economic, and cultural realities of Inuit life in the Canadian North by Annie Pootoogook (Inuit, b. 1969).

See the major works that Freer acquired during his first 12 years as a collector— images of beautiful women by James McNeill Whistler, Thomas Wilmer Dewing, and Abbott Handerson Thayer.

Explore a tradition among African American women of wearing church hats. Get to know the “Hat Queens” and admire their collection of “crowns,” from the simple to the simply out-of-this world.