Art & Design

Explore Art & Design across the Smithsonian through stories, events, and exhibitions. Use the filters to browse by format, then bookmark events and exhibitions to keep track of what you want to visit or attend.

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Detail from Hilma af Klint's Retable, No. 1 (1915). Several colorful pathways turn into a triangle shape intersecting a sun.
Meet Hilma af Klint, the Occultist Who Believed Otherworldly Spirits Told Her What to Paint. Now, She’s Considered One of History’s First Abstract Artists
The Swedish painter created bold, vibrant works as early as 1906—several years before contemporaries like Wassily Kandinsky. A new exhibition in France celebrates her sweeping “Paintings for the Temple” series.
Smithsonian Magazine
Article
An image of Leonara Carrington in black and white on a blue exhibition sign at a museum.
No Mere Muse, This Influential Surrealist Artist and Feminist Gets Her Due in a New Biopic and Art Exhibitions
Leonora Carrington’s life and work are celebrated with the new film “Leonora in the Morning Light.” Meanwhile, an exhibition at the Freud Museum showcases for the first time artwork she created inside a psychiatric hospital.
Smithsonian Magazine
Article
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Art & Design
What would you create after visiting an art museum? When cake artist Jill Nguyen took a tour of our American Art Museum, these textured stained-glass windows, titled “Peacocks and Peonies I and II” by John La Farge inspired her culinary creation.
Smithsonian Institution
Video

Decorate an American Art Museum Inspired Cake with Jill Nguyen

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Nature & Wildlife
A sycamore tree between two green hills.
How Do You Honor a Fallen Tree? In England, a Sound Sculpture Will Broadcast the ‘Voice’ of a Beloved Sycamore Felled Near Hadrian’s Wall
“The People’s Tree” will also incorporate the tree’s wood and archive recordings from the public in a series of community artworks.
Smithsonian Magazine
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Culture & Community
Ella Jenkins sings and accompanies herself on ukulele in an interactive performance with a group of children and teachers at the Smithsonian Institution Early Enrichment Center. Ella made this video so that kids at home could learn, play, and . Shortened snippet. View full page for more details.
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Video

Ella Jenkins Live! at the Smithsonian (1991)

An overhead view of a piece of wood next to some yarn and knitted fabric.
A Shipwreck, but Make It Fashion: Researchers Transformed Wooden Fragments From a 17th-Century Shipwreck Into a Pair of Stylish Maxi Dresses
Scientists at Aalto University in Finland saved pieces of the Hahtiperä wreck and turned them into textile fibers.
Smithsonian Magazine
Article
A gloomy painting of a side view of an older woman in mourning clothes seated in a chair.
Whistler Didn’t Mean to Make His Mourning Mother an Art World Star. Today, She’s a Highlight at a Major Exhibition in London
Officially titled ‘Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1,’ James McNeill Whistler’s stoic portrait of his mother has come to define the artist’s style and legacy. The artwork is currently on display in the same city where it was painted more than . Shortened snippet. View full page for more details.
Smithsonian Magazine
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A detail from Jackson Pollock's Number 7A, with black and red paint.
What Did Jackson Pollock Hope to Accomplish With This Dizzying Drip Painting, Which Just Sold for a Record-Breaking $181 Million?
The Abstract Expressionist is best known for his action paintings, which emphasized the movements of the artist’s body during the creative process. “Number 7A, 1948” is now his most expensive work ever auctioned.
Smithsonian Magazine
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