Events &amp; Exhibits

Margaret Mee: Portraits of Plants

Centered on the paintings of botanical artist Margaret Mee, this exhibit explores the traditions of women botanical artists and illustrators primarily using materials from the Rare Book Collection.

Garden Centennial

The Garden Centennial recognizes a century of stewardship and preservation of the Dumbarton Oaks Gardens through celebrations and exhibits.

Ancient Art at Dumbarton Oaks

In this online exhibit, explore a selection of ancient Mediterranean art in the collection, which offer an opportunity to consider the continuities and changes in artistic production from the classical to the medieval period.

Enjoy Dumbarton Oaks Safely

Learn more about Dumbarton Oaks’ response to COVID-19, virtual opportunities, and plans to reopen the museum and gardens to visitors.

Upcoming Events

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Oct 22, 2021

Heliconias, Evolution, and Art: A Botanist’s Perspective

Smithsonian botanist  W. John Kress discusses the interaction of science and art and how field observations and controlled experiments by botanists and ecologists have produced a wealth of new information about heliconias.

Oct 28, 2021

Worth Their Weight in Gold: The Significance of Lead Seals to Byzantine Studies

In this lecture, Alicia Walker presents Byzantine sigillography as a rich domain for interdisciplinary investigation and collaboration.

Oct 29, 2021

Seals and Society in the Medieval World

Scholars working on seals from Byzantine, European, and Middle Eastern medieval contexts bring innovative, comparative perspectives to a specialized discipline entering a new phase.

Recorded Events

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Jun 16, 2021 - Jul 28, 2021

Hidden Landscapes of the Past: Uncovering the Ancient World through LiDAR

In this interdisciplinary summer lecture series, speakers look at how different applications of LiDAR have changed our understanding of ancient landscapes.

Special Exhibitions

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Ancient Art at Dumbarton Oaks

Viewed alongside Byzantine art, these objects from the ancient Mediterranean offer an opportunity to consider the continuities and changes in artistic production from the classical to medieval periods.

Margaret Mee: Portraits of Plants

September 21, 2021–January 9, 2022 | Centered on the paintings of botanical artist Margaret Mee, this exhibit explores the traditions of women botanical artists and illustrators primarily using materials from the Rare Book Collection.

Music at Dumbarton Oaks

Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss designed Dumbarton Oaks to be beautiful without and within, filling the gardens with flowers, the library with rare volumes, and the house itself with fine art and music. Music at Dumbarton Oaks, founded in 1946 as the Friends of Music, continues this tradition with classical concerts from established and rising musicians.

The 2020–2021 Music at Dumbarton Oaks concert series has been postponed to 2021–2022. Please read this message for more information.

Learn More Early-Career Musician Residency

Online Exhibits

Explore curated selections from across our collections in a series of online exhibits. Select recent exhibits below, or view them all.

Margaret Mee: Portraits of Plants

Centered on the paintings of botanical artist Margaret Mee, this exhibit explores the traditions of women botanical artists and illustrators primarily using materials from the Rare Book Collection.

Ancient Art at Dumbarton Oaks

Art from the ancient Mediterranean represents a small but significant part of Dumbarton Oaks’ collections. When viewed alongside Byzantine art, these works offer an opportunity to consider the continuities and changes in artistic production from the classical to the medieval period.

Written in Knots: Undeciphered Accounts of Andean Life

Long before the arrival of the Spaniards, the people of South America had a system of recorded information that was portable, precise, and so complex that it remains undeciphered today.