“The Outwin 2025: American Portraiture Today” presented by the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.
Just a few blocks off the National Mall, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery will celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary with a year of portraiture from historic treasures to new work by contemporary artists.
As a museum founded by an Act of Congress in 1962, the Portrait Gallery’s mission is to collect the portraits of individuals who have significantly impacted American history and culture. Since opening its doors to the public in 1968, the collection has grown from 285 portraits to more than 26,000 objects. Today, more than one million visitors visit the Portrait Gallery each year.
The Outwin 2025: American Portraiture Today (Jan. 24, 2026 - Aug. 30, 2026) features a juried selection of more than 30 portraits – including new winners – from entries to the museum’s seventh national Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. Visitors will have the chance to vote for their own favorites as part of the competition’s People’s Choice Award.
On Feb. 24 (11:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.), the Kogod Courtyard will bring the past to life with a free 250th Festival: A Celebration of Our Story, commemorating 250 years of art, history and culture. Dance along with live performances, take guided tours through the galleries, enjoy story times, play games and more. Participants can create art with friends and family and take home a booklet to celebrate the 250th all year long. This free community festival will highlight joyful moments and heroic stories that have shaped the nation. Registration encouraged.
Dolley Madison by John Plumbe Jr., quarter-plate daguerreotype, c. 1846.
As we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence nationwide, the National Portrait Gallery will commemorate the founding of its historic home with the exhibition The Spirit of Invention: Patent Office and Patentees (June 26 – June 6, 2027).
On July 4, 1836, President Andrew Jackson signed into law an act of Congress to overhaul the nation’s patent system and fund the construction of a Patent Office building in Washington, DC. The building has since served as the home of the National Portrait Gallery for more than fifty years. This exhibition will sketch the early history of the Patent Office through works in the museum’s collection, ranging from a painted portrait miniature of President Jackson (who selected the building’s site, plan and architect) to an 1869 print depicting patent examiners at work. On view will also be rare daguerreotypes of patentees and historic prints representing various aspects of the Patent Office building itself. This exhibition is curated by the museum’s Senior Curator of Photographs Ann Shumard.
Beginning Nov. 14, 2026, Photographic Memory: Fifty Years of Photography at the National Portrait Gallery will explore the evolution of photographic portraiture through more than one hundred works from the daguerreian era to today’s digital age. On view will be Portrait Gallery collection gems including a c. 1846 daguerreotype of Dolley Madison and Alexander Gardner’s original “cracked plate” portrait of Abraham Lincoln.
Visitors will also be able to explore the museum’s America’s Presidents gallery (ongoing with temporary closure April 6 – May 14) which draws from its collection of more than 1,700 portraits of those who have held the nation’s highest office. The National Portrait Gallery remains the only complete collection of presidential portraits outside of The White House.
The National Portrait Gallery is located at G and 8th Streets NW. Open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Admission is free.
