Virtual Artist Talk: Bingyi
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Hear internationally recognized painter Bingyi discuss her artistic process creating the painting Omnibrilliance: Peach Blossom Spring in this online talk. This work features in our exhibition Into the Waters with Senju and Bingyi: Two Contemporary Paintings.
Bingyi is known for painting her monochrome ink works outdoors—this one on the beach in Shenzhen, southern China—and finishing them in her studio. She worked on Omnibrilliance for four years, layering ink and suffusing it with water to create a distinctive style. She harnesses environmental forces like weather and humidity in shaping her work. Her works are collected globally, including by several major US museums, but each is unique.
After the talk, Melvin R. Seiden Curator of Chinese Art Jan Stuart joins Bingyi for a conversation and Zoom audience Q&A. Image: Bingyi (b. 1975); Omnibrilliance: Peach Blossom Spring (detail); China, Shenzhen, Guangdong province and Beijing municipality, 2018–2022; triptych (three hanging…
Event Location: Zoom. Cost: Free. Register in advance (required). Get Tickets/Register: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nu-rJOemSkCg6EOuj_Z7GA. Categories: Webcasts & Online. Lectures & Discussions.
Wednesday, September 9, 2026, 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM.
Sneak Peek | An Exclusive Glimpse into “From the Louvre”
Get a preview of our upcoming exhibition From the Louvre: Masterpieces of Islamic Art in this online talk with co-curator Simon Rettig. For this show, an exceptional selection of twenty-six objects from the most famous Parisian museum crosses the Atlantic Ocean all together for the first time. Among them are many celebrated artworks, such as the basin known as the “Baptistery of Saint Louis,” the so-called Lion of Monzón, the Iznik peacock plate, and one of the monumental portraits of Fath Ali Shah Qajar.
In this talk, Rettig offers an overview of From the Louvre and addresses the main themes explored in the exhibition, from the making of a masterpiece to the formation of the museum’s collections of Islamic art. Rettig also introduces the little-known relationship between the National Museum of Asian Art’s founder Charles Lang Freer and Louvre curator Gaston Migeon, which sparked a century-long collaboration between the two institutions.
This program is part of the monthly lunchtime series Sneak Peek,…
Venue: Asian Art Museum. Event Location: Zoom. Cost: Free. Register in advance (required). Categories: Lectures & Discussions. Webcasts & Online. Accessibility: Captioning.
Tuesday, September 15, 2026, 12:00 PM – 12:50 PM.
Conservation Cart Talk | What Can Light Reveal About Art?
Did you know you can use X-rays to study art? Join conservation scientist Matthew Clarke to discover how scientists use X-ray, infrared, and other forms of light to view works of art from a different perspective. See examples from Matthew’s research and learn how light-based tools help researchers uncover information not visible to the eye. Image: X-ray fluorescence reveals the areas (right) where gold appears in a fourteenth-century Persian manuscript.
Darab Sleeping in the Ruined Vault, folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings) by Firdawsi (d. 1020) (detail); Iran, Tabriz, ca. 1330–1340; opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper; National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Purchase—Charles Lang Freer Endowment, F1930.78.
Venue: Asian Art Museum. Building: West Building. Event Location: Entrance to Gallery 1. Cost: Free. Register in advance (optional). Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1998375731608?aff=oddtdtcreator. Categories: Gallery Talks & Tours. Lectures & Discussions. Accessibility: Assisted listening devices. Wheelchair accessible.
Friday, September 18, 2026, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM.
Documentary Screening: James McNeill Whistler
US Premiere!
Watch the Trailer
Join producer Phil Grabsky and our curator Diana Greenwold for a discussion after the screening.
Get ready for our upcoming Whistler exhibition with the US premiere of this documentary on painter James McNeill Whistler, the latest Exhibition On Screen production.
In an era of great change and great beauty emerged the character of James McNeill Whistler. Considered by some to be one of the great innovators of nineteenth-century art, he was a contemporary of the Impressionists, much admired by Van Gogh and Manet. Boldly experimental and famously witty, Whistler disrupted the strict conventions of Victorian society in pursuit of a new cult of beauty, creating “art for art’s sake” and earning himself a place in the history of great art. He found a parallel between painting and music, and entitled many of his paintings “arrangements,“ “harmonies,“ and “nocturnes,“ emphasizing the importance of tonal harmony in his work. His most famous painting, Arrangement in Grey and Black No.…
Venue: Asian Art Museum. Building: West Building. Event Location: Meyer Auditorium. Cost: Free. Register in advance (recommended). Get Tickets/Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/film-screening-james-macneill-whistler-tickets-1997988167393?aff=oddtdtcreator&keep_tld=true. Categories: Films. After Five. Lectures & Discussions. Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible. Assisted listening devices.
Friday, September 18, 2026, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM.