Overview

The Smithsonian National Museum of African Art is the premiere museum in the world dedicated exclusively to the collection, exhibition, conservation, and study of the arts of Africa across time and media. The museum organizes internationally renowned exhibitions, produces exceptional education programs, and houses the world’s foremost African art library, photographic archives, and art conservation lab. Our renowned permanent collection of over 12,000 objects represents some of the finest art produced on the African continent. Our Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives collection includes nearly 500,000 images of historical and contemporary images of Africa created by world renowned photojournalists, artists, scholars, and commercial photographers. Today, the museum holds the largest collection in the United States of historical and contemporary African visual arts.