After-hours soirées will return to the National Gallery of Art this fall. Exhibit tours, live performances, and other activities will be on tap for the popular National Gallery Nights series. The museum will reopen from 6 to 9 PM on the second Thursdays of September, October, and November. This season, the gallery will lean into three themes: “Back to School,” “Strike a Pose,” and “Art Under the Stars.”
Bites and beverages will be available for purchase, including pizza and gelato from the museum’s cafe, as well as rosé and specialty cocktails on the mezzanine. Due to the popularity of these events, tickets will be distributed via a lottery system, which will open a week before each event at 10 AM and close the following Thursday at noon. You’ll learn whether you secured a pass on the Friday before each event. Additional passes will be available on a first-come, first-served basis at the building’s East Entrance, starting at 5:30 on the night of each event.
Interested in this season’s lineup? Keep reading for an overview of what’s to come—plus the lottery timeline for each one.
Thursday, September 11: Back to School
Lottery opens: Monday, September 1, at 10 AM
Lottery closes: Thursday, September 4, at noon
Winners notified: Friday, September 5
A back-to-school special will kick off this season of nighttime events. First up is art class, where everyday supplies can become your muses in a selection of hands-on activities. Next comes music, with a live performance of jazz-funk fusion by the Virginia band Butcher Brown. Before the bell rings, explore recent additions to some of the East Wing’s permanent collections.
Thursday, October 9: Strike a Pose
Lottery opens: Monday, September 29, at 10 AM
Lottery closes: Thursday, October 2, at noon
Winners notified: Friday, October 3
This after-dark soirée will offer the rare opportunity to cross over into the West Building to tour the new exhibit “Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955-1985,” which explores how street photography and graphic design celebrated Black history, identity, and beauty in those decades. Pose in photo booths, snap your own pics, and decorate picture frames. The Gallery encourages attendees to dress in fashion inspired by the 1950s through the ’80s.
Thursday, November 13: Art Under the Stars
Lottery opens: Monday, November 3, at 10 AM
Lottery closes: Thursday, November 6, at noon
Winners notified: Friday, November 7
This evening features the largest display of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art ever shown outside Australia. A new exhibit, “The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art,” showcases more than 200 works from the late 19th century to the present day. Highlights of this event include listening to the rhythmic sounds of a didgeridoo, weaving textiles, and viewing moonlit artifacts on the Roof Terrace.
