Join Us In Person for el Día de los Muertos Plus Native American Heritage Month Programs!
Join Us for a Celebration of el Día de los Muertos!
Monday, Nov. 1, and Tuesday, Nov. 2
6:30–8:30 p.m.
G Street and 9th Street
Celebrate el Día de los Muertos with an outdoor festival of music and art at the National Portrait Gallery. Join us in creating a community altar on the museum’s steps while discovering more about the history and mythology behind el Día de los Muertos. Then, at dusk, artists MasPaz and Guache will project a two-hour live digital painting, video, and sound performance onto the G Street and 9th Street façades of the museum’s building to honor D.C.’s Latinx community.
Spotlight Programs
In Dialogue: Smithsonian Objects and Social Justice
Thursday, Nov. 4, 5:00 p.m.
Online via Zoom
How can portraits reveal complex histories? Together with our co-hosts from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, we will explore multiple perspectives on national identity and belonging through portraits of Ruth Asawa and Hung Liu and a painting by Roger Shimomura.
The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the recent passing of Daniel B. Greenberg, whose generosity and that of his wife, Susan, makes the Greenberg Steinhauser Forum in American Portraiture possible. "Oak Flat" is hosted by PORTAL, the Portrait Gallery’s Scholarly Center.
Oak Flat: A Fight for Sacred Land in the American West with Author Lauren Redniss
Tuesday, Nov. 16, 5:00 p.m.
Online via Zoom
Join Lauren Redniss for a presentation that will explore the ongoing Oak Flat controversy and examine its place in the history of Indigenous land expropriation in the United States. Additionally, Redniss will discuss her approach to “visual nonfiction,” the role of portraiture in her work, and the possibilities of unconventional storytelling forms.
Art AfterWords: A Book Discussion
Tuesday, Nov. 16, 5:30–7 p.m.
Online via Zoom
The National Portrait Gallery and the DC Public Library would like to invite you to a virtual conversation about culture, displacement, and acceptance. Join us as we analyze the portrait “Resident Alien” by Hung Liu and discuss the book “The Refugees” by Viet Thanh Nguyen. Participants are encouraged to visit the exhibition "Hung Liu: Portraits of Promised Lands."
Free—Registration required.
Wind Down Wednesday: Bidi Bidi Bom Bom
Wednesday, Nov. 17, 5:00 p.m.
Instagram Live @Smithsoniannpg
Culture, sovereignty, and political activism—this conversation about the life and leadership of Leonard Crow Dog will touch upon these topics and more. Join the National Portrait Gallery as we delve into the history of the Red Power movement and poster activism and learn to make a signature cocktail or mocktail.
On View
Visit Us at Home
Since we can’t get together in person, let’s meet up remotely! The National Portrait Gallery is now offering docent-led group tours for adults. Tours are available by registration.
Reservations must be made three weeks in advance of the desired tour date. To receive a tour request form, e-mail NPGAdultTours@si.edu or click here.
Not ready to come back quite yet? Enjoy several online adaptations of National Portrait Gallery exhibitions and collection highlights, including "Afro-Latinx: Crossing Cultures, identities, and Experiences", through our collaboration with Google Arts & Culture.
All images belong to the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, unless otherwise noted.