On View Through January 12, 2025

Gordon Parks: Camera Portraits looks at a celebrated American photographer and how he forged a new mode of portraiture after World War II. Parks blended a documentary photographer’s desire to place his subjects where they lived and worked with a studio photographer’s attention to dress, character, and expression. In doing so, he believed he could create portraits of individuals that addressed their cultural significance. He applied this approach to such American icons as boxer Muhammad Ali and conductor Leonard Bernstein, as well as to a Harlem gang leader and to a Detroit couple, revealing the humanity and cultural dignity of each person.

This exhibition, drawn primarily from the Corcoran Collection, presents some 25 portraits Parks made between 1941 and 1970. Explore Parks's innovations in portraiture through some of his best-known photographs. Learn how his portraits speak to larger stories of the civil rights movement, the African American experience, and American culture.

On View Through January 17, 2025

Late 19th-century Paris witnessed profound social, cultural, and physical change. Political and military clashes led to widespread destruction in the city. At the same time, industrialization and new technologies like the railway altered residents’ experience of urban space. Women were increasingly present in public life, and tourism was expanding. The city where the impressionists lived and worked was in flux. Artists reacted to this moment in multiple ways: some sought refuge in tradition, while others embraced new ways of seeing.

This selection of approximately 40 photographs and prints from the National Gallery of Art Library shows us the world of the artists and artworks on view in Paris 1874: The Impressionist Moment. These archival objects provide glimpses of a city and an art market on the cusp of modernity.

On View Through January 19, 2025

How did impressionism begin? Discover the origins of the French art movement in a new look at the radical 1874 exhibition considered the birth of modern painting.

A remarkable presentation of 130 works includes a rare reunion of many of the paintings first featured in that now-legendary exhibition. Revisit beloved paintings by Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot, and Camille Pissarro and meet their lesser-known contemporaries. See the art norms they were rebelling against and learn what political and social shifts sparked their new approach to art.

On View Through March 9, 2025

Art flourished in Haiti—the world’s first Black republic—in the mid-1900s. Painters like Hector Hyppolite, Rigaud Benoît, and Philomé Obin were known around the world for their images of Haitian daily life, religious traditions, and history. Their works influenced generations of African American artists. Several, including Lois Mailou Jones and Eldzier Cortor, traveled to and worked in Haiti.

Spirit & Strength is the first chance to see 21 works by Haitian artists recently given to the National Gallery. Get an introduction to Haitian modern art and experience the remarkable creations of some of the most prominent artists in Haiti’s history alongside works by artists building upon their legacy today. Through its art, understand Haiti’s significant yet underrecognized importance in the culture of the African Diaspora.

On View Through April 6, 2025

The 1970s was a decade of uncertainty in the United States. Americans witnessed soaring inflation, energy crises, and the Watergate scandal, as well as protests about pressing issues such as the Vietnam War, women’s rights, gay liberation, and the environment. The country’s profound upheaval formed the backdrop for a revolution in documentary photography. Activism and a growing awareness and acceptance of diversity opened the field to underrepresented voices. At the same time, artistic experimentation fueled the reimagining of what documentary photographs could look like.