Sculpture Garden

The revitalized Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden reopens following a four-year transformation of its 1.3-acre landscape. The renewed garden is designed to showcase more artworks from the national collection, welcome more visitors, and reunify the museum’s campus. Nearly sixty sculptures are displayed within a environment featuring almost 30,000 newly planted trees and plants.

Architect and artist Hiroshi Sugimoto reimagined the Sculpture Garden with deep respect for Gordon Bunshaft’s original design. His plan restores Bunshaft’s long-closed underground passageway, reconnecting the garden to the Museum plaza and creating a seamless visitor experience across the campus. In the East Garden, major Modernist bronzes by Auguste Rodin, Henri Matisse, Henry Moore, and others appear alongside recent acquisitions and commissions by artists from around the world.

Architectural updates throughout the garden expand public access with five entry points, including a wider “front door” on the National Mall and wide ramps from the north and south. New east and west overlooks and flexible spaces for commissions, performances, and time‑based artworks enhance the experience, particularly within the Central Garden and the West Lawn as well as expanded seating and shade throughout.

In the East Garden, foundational Modernist works—including five sculptures by Moore and two by Barbara Hepworth—reflect Joseph H. Hirshhorn’s close relationships with artists. Nearby, four sculptures by Tony Smith, arranged within a central planting bed, highlight his groundbreaking contributions to Abstract Expressionist sculpture through his innovative use of welded metal. Additional works gifted and bequeathed by Hirshhorn on view include significant sculptures by Rodin, Lucio Fontana, Elisabeth Frink, Willem de Kooning, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, Germaine Richier, and Tomonori Toyofuku.

The Central Garden operates as a revised entry-exit to the reopened passageway and introduces an expanded water feature that can be filled to create a reflective, cooling surface or drained to accommodate seating for performances, artists talk and art education.

The West Garden presents a dedicated green space for special presentations encircled by recent acquisitions by artists such as Mark Grotjahn, Raven Halfmoon, Lauren Halsey, and Liz Larner. Yoshitomo Nara: Sentinels of Stillness (October 31, 2026–November 7, 2027) inaugurates the West Lawn.