CHAMPION WOMEN THROUGH THE ARTS

A modern museum gallery is photographed at a wide angle. Visitors observe large sculptures, several of which hang from the ceiling. A modern museum gallery is photographed at a wide angle. Visitors observe large sculptures, several of which hang from the ceiling.

NMWA Is Now Open

We are excited to welcome you back to the museum!

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Visit Us

Located in the heart of Washington, D.C., the National Museum of Women in the Arts advocates for better representation of women artists and serves as a vital center for thought leadership, community engagement, and social change.

Plan Your Visit
Museum Hours

Tuesday to Sunday

10 am to 5 pm

Evening Hours: Stay late from 5 to 8 pm on the third Wednesday of the month.

Holiday Closures: NMWA is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.

Hours are subject to change.
Check the Visit page for updates

A visitor walks in the middle of a modern museum gallery. Three abstract sculptures made from beams of cedar are stacked and roughly carved.
Installation view of works by Ursula von Rydingsvard in The Sky’s the Limit at the National Museum of Women in the Arts; Photo by Jennifer Hughes, courtesy of NMWA
Just 11% of all acquisitions at prominent American museums over the past decade were of work by women artists.
– Artnet News

What We Do

Our rotating special exhibitions showcase historic and contemporary artwork. Museum programs and events foster conversations and connections that inspire change. Our collections feature more than 5,500 works from the 16th century to today created by more than 1,000 artists.

A modern museum gallery is photographed at a wide angle. It features several inset bays in which art of various sizes and mediums is hung. In the foreground, a marble sculpture depicts an abstracted, voluptuous figure with a pregnant belly. The figure is covered in bright patterns and posed stepping forward, with raised, outstretched arms.
Niki de Saint Phalle’s Pregnant Nana (1995) greets visitors in the new collection galleries; Photo by Jennifer Hughes

Current Exhibitions

The Sky’s the Limit

Hand-painted, leaded glass chandelier, wood figurine, vintage glass bottles, chandelier ornaments, birdcage, steel, wood pedestal, lace, cowry shells, taxidermy deer paws, Indian marriage jewelry, ostrich eggshells, porcelain doll hands, silver leaf, gold leaf, wire, linen cord, and marble baby doll hands
In The Sky’s the Limit never-before-exhibited contemporary sculptures dangle from the ceiling, cascade down walls, and extend far beyond their footprint on the gallery floor.
View The Sky’s the Limit

Holding Ground

An artist's book, opened to reveal a pop-up of many colorful flowers in a vase. The pages are dark with black writing.
In Holding Ground: Artists’ Books for the National Museum of Women in the Arts nine new works by celebrated book artists inaugurate NMWA’s new Learning Commons and its reinvigorated Betty Boyd Dettre Library and Research Center.
View Holding Ground

Hung Liu

An etching of a Chinese woman working at a wooden loom. Three colorful birds sit in the foreground of the print in front of the loom. Above the loom hovers a dream-like figure of a Chinese person wearing a long yellow robe. The figure is riding on a mystical red bird.
In Hung Liu: Making History “weeping” paintings and prints by Hung Liu features signature paint drips, layers of color, and cultural symbols that pay homage to overlooked figures in history, predominantly vulnerable women and children from the artist’s native China.
View Hung Liu

In Focus

A rendering of the gallery entrance of sliding glass doors with gold rim and the words
In Focus: Artists at Work provides a close-up look into the practices and perspectives of eight contemporary collection artists via short documentary-style videos.
View In Focus

Impressive

A black-and-white, horizontal print depicts multiple Roman-style male figures on horseback. They hold weapons or brass musical instruments and process, somewhat chaotically, towards the viewer's right.
The Entrance of the Emperor Sigismond into Mantua, an extraordinary series of 25 prints by 17th-century French artist Antoinette Bouzonnet-Stella is presented at NMWA for the first time in almost 15 years in the exhibition Impressive: Antoinette Bouzonnet-Stella.
View Impressive

Remix

A horizontal canvas combines collaged paper, such as a scrap of a U.S. map, comic strip, and pictographs; cloth swatches; scrawled and dripped paint; and phrases like “It takes hard work to keep racism alive” and “Oh! Zone.” The work’s title appears in red paint right of center.
Remix: The Collection showcases familiar collection favorites as well as never-before-exhibited recent acquisitions. Artworks are grouped around themes that resonate among global artists across time.
View Remix

Related Quote

People in the art world want to think we are achieving parity more quickly than we are.”
Susan Fisher Sterling, The Alice West Director

Advocate for Gender Equity

Historically, social and cultural systems based on false beliefs about gender have hindered artists’ power, access, and agency. Gender bias is less overt today, but contemporary women artists still face many obstacles and disparities, as well as persistent underrepresentation in museum collections and exhibitions worldwide.

Take Action

Related Quote

Our building symbolizes, and houses, women’s great contributions to the history of art.”
Wilhelmina Cole Holladay, Founder

Support Our Capital Campaign

By contributing to the restoration of this historic structure, your support helps the cause and the values we champion: gender equity and social justice through the arts.

NWMA was born from an auspicious act of philanthropy, and donors make our work possible.

We ask you to join us.

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Watercolor of NMWA building

Watercolor of NMWA building

Explore Things to Do @ NMWA

Gallery Talk: The Sky’s the Limit

Date: Dec, 06
Time: 12 to 12:30 pm

Collection Highlights Tour

Date: Dec, 08
Time: 2 to 2:45 pm

Firsthand Experience: Decorative Papers

Date: Dec, 09
Time: 10 am to 3 pm

Free Community Day

Date: Dec, 13
Time: 10 am to 5 pm

New Worlds: Gender Disruptions

Date: Dec, 13
Time: 12 to 1 pm

Gallery Talk: Collection Sampler

Date: Dec, 13
Time: 12 to 12:30 pm

Open Studio

Date: Dec, 13
Time: 11 am to 4 pm

Collection Highlights Tour

Date: Dec, 15
Time: 2 to 2:45 pm

Art Chat @ Five: Topographies of the Body

Date: Dec, 15
Time: 5 to 5:45 pm

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