Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery

a CILC Content Provider

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery tells the multifaceted story of the United States through the individuals who have shaped American culture. Spanning the visual arts, performing arts and new media, the Portrait Gallery portrays poets and presidents, visionaries and villains, actors and activists whose lives tell the American story.

2023-2024

2021-2022

2020-2021

Programs by Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery

A Conversation With Opal Lee: Juneteenth and the Constitution

Join Ms. Opal Lee, the “grandmother of Juneteenth,” for a special Constitution Day celebration exploring themes of freedom, equality, and storytelling through video, portraiture and interactive discussions. There will be opportunity to ask Ms...

America's Presidents --FREE Program

How has presidential portraiture changed since the days of George Washington? The National Portrait Gallery is proud to hold the only complete collection of presidential portraits outside of the White House. This program introduces students to the...

Exploring Identity through Portraiture --FREE Program

By analyzing a variety of contemporary portraits, including self-portraits, students will investigate how the artists tell the sitters’ stories, paying careful attention to how the artists’ choices reveal some—but perhaps not all—aspects of the...

Portrait Conversations --FREE Program

Travel through the Portrait Gallery’s broad and diverse collection! Students will compare and contrast visual elements in portraits across different historical eras, paying particular attention to differences in style and media and to the variety...

Portrait Detectives --FREE Program

Become a Portrait Detective! Young students will search for and analyze clues in portraits to learn about some of the most historically significant Americans. Through discussions, sketching, and writing activities, participants will look closely...

Shaping America --FREE Program

Meet the politicians, reformers, inventors, authors, soldiers and others who shaped the course of American history from the colonial era to the end of the Civil War. Students will analyze portraits to learn about the diverse and significant...

STEAM and Portraiture--FREE Program

Spark your students’ curiosity, powers of observation, and inquiry skills in a program that uses portraiture as a springboard to discuss STEAM concepts. As they analyze portraits, students will discover the sitters’ stories and recognize their...

The Art of Portraiture --FREE Program

How do artists create portraits? Students will take a close look at modern and contemporary portraiture through the lens of artists’ decisions, paying particular attention to the different approaches that artists take to their subject matter and...

Visual-EYES-ing a Portrait of a Graduate-- FREE Program

Students will investigate how prominent figures in the United States have used communication, collaboration, resilience, creativity, and global citizenship to make significant contributions to U.S. history and culture. During their visit, they...

Visualizing Democracy --FREE Program

Students will visualize democracy from the colonial era to the 21st century by analyzing portraits of major figures who played a critical role—as government officials, engaged citizens, or both—in creating a democratic society for the United...

Voices of Social Justice --FREE Program

Students will learn about some of the major figures who struggled to obtain civil rights for disenfranchised or marginalized groups. They will listen to stories of social justice and analyze portraits of individuals who broke barriers——from key...

Type of Organization

Arts/Cultural/Museum

Contact

Jocelyn Kho npgstudentprograms@si.edu
750 Ninth Street NW
Washington DC 20001
(202) 633-8514
United States

https://npg.si.edu

Primary Disciplines

The programs of Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery cover:

Art
Fine Arts
Language Arts/English
Math
Reading
Science
History & Social Studies
Writing