First-of-its-kind collaboration between National Gallery of Art and Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History brings specimens into conversation with art

Contemporary artist Dario Robleto to create new film for exhibition

Washington, DC—The National Gallery of Art announces Little Beasts: Art, Wonder, and the Natural World, an exhibition exploring the rich exchange between artists and naturalists at the dawn of European natural history. Thanks to an unprecedented collaboration with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), the National Gallery will display nearly 75 prints, drawings, and paintings alongside some 60 objects from NMNH, marking the first time their collections of art and specimens have been displayed together. A new film by contemporary artist Dario Robleto will further examine the intersection of art, science, and the natural world, bringing history into dialogue with contemporary culture. The exhibition will be on view from May 18 to November 2, 2025, in the National Gallery’s West Building.

Little Beasts will explore how European artists spread knowledge about creatures big and small during the 16th and 17th centuries. Scientific technology, trade, and colonial expansion led to the study of previously unknown or overlooked species. In major cities like Antwerp, artists such as Joris and Jacob Hoefnagel and Jan van Kessel created highly detailed drawings, prints, and paintings of these insects, animals, and other beestjes, or “little beasts” in Dutch. Their works inspired generations of artists and naturalists, fueling the burgeoning science of natural history. Rarely displayed art by more than a dozen others, including Albrecht Dürer, Teodoro Filippo di Liagno, and Wenceslaus Hollar, will also be on view alongside examples of the period’s illustrated zoological publications.

The National Gallery will offer several opportunities throughout the exhibition for visitors to deepen their engagement with the material. Digital displays will allow visitors to zoom in on small works and learn more about their stories. Magnifying glasses, reminiscent of the lenses Renaissance artists and naturalists would have used, will be available to examine specimens and their artistic representations. Take-home nature journals will invite visitors to slow down and observe the natural world, both within the exhibition and beyond.

 "Through their work, artists have always helped us make sense of the world,” said Kaywin Feldman, director of the National Gallery of Art. “Little Beasts gives us the chance to examine how the curiosity of artists helped to advance discovery in the study of the natural world. It is only fitting that we explore this rich exchange of ideas with our neighbors at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Delightfully detailed drawings, prints, and paintings invite art lovers of all ages to marvel at these artistic feats and to explore our wondrous word.”

“Art and science have been closely aligned throughout the 175-year history of the Smithsonian,” said Kirk Johnson, Sant Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. “Even today, researchers at the National Museum of Natural History depend on scientific illustrators to bring clarity and understanding to the specimens they study. We are proud to collaborate with the National Gallery of Art to bring a new perspective to an era when artistic expression went hand in hand with scientific exploration.” 

About the Exhibition 
Drawing primarily from the National Gallery’s collection, with special loans from the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Library of Congress, and other institutions, the exhibition begins in 16th-century Europe, where artists like Joris Hoefnagel created detailed images of plants and animals. The centerpiece of this section is Hoefnagel’s Four Elements, one of the treasures of the National Gallery’s collection. This series of 270 watercolors bound into four books was originally in Emperor Rudolf II of Austria’s private collection and is almost never on view due to its sensitivity to light. Not only will all four books be on display, but their pages will also be turned three times during the course of the exhibition, allowing access to even more of these delicate works. Little Beasts will also reunite a watercolor of two turkeys, removed sometime in the late 1700s or early 1800s and currently in a private collection, with the original four-book set. Surrounding the Four Elements, related works of art and specimens of the animals depicted illustrate some of Hoefnagel’s more innovative techniques. 

The second section of the exhibition explores how printmaking—namely engraving and etching—enabled artists and naturalists to share their studies of the animal world with a wider audience of art collectors. Examples from several landmark print series, including engravings made after Joris Hoefnagel’s designs, are paired with loans from NMNH, allowing visitors to compare these highly detailed artistic representations of animals with related natural history specimens. Among the featured animals are a Eurasian hoopoe, an elephant beetle, a musk beetle, a hummingbird hawk-moth, and a mantis shrimp. Specimens were chosen in close collaboration with collections managers and specialists from NMNH, who helped to identify species within the works of art. 

The third section focuses on Jan van Kessel’s celebrated paintings and the prints, books, and animals that inspired him. Seashells, insects, a parrot, a peacock, a porcupine, and a macaque will appear with Van Kessel’s works, showcasing his tremendous skill at rendering creatures of all kinds and allowing visitors to compare the paintings and their subjects. NMNH scientists have identified every insect in his Insects and a Sprig of Rosemary (1653) and created a custom tableau with specimens from their collection to appear alongside Van Kessel’s painting. A digital interactive kiosk will recreate the art cabinets upon which Van Kessel’s postcard-sized works were usually displayed. While no cabinets with paintings by Van Kessel remain today, an intact suite of paintings from the Oak Spring Garden Library allows us to reimagine these decorative cabinet fronts, which probably showcased specimens contained within.  

As a coda to the exhibition, a commissioned, 40-minute film by artist Dario Robleto explores the lineage of tenderness and empathy that connects art and science through time. The film includes site-specific filming, historical footage, animations, and an original score, linking the works of Hoefnagel and Van Kessel to the efforts of modern-day conservators and image scientists at the National Gallery, who are responsible for preserving these valuable works of art for future generations. A bespoke theater will show the film on a loop in the final room of the exhibition. 

Exhibition Tour
National Gallery of Art, Washington, May 18–November 2, 2025

Exhibition Organization and Support
The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, with special cooperation from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.  

Major support for the exhibition has been provided by Barry D. Friedman. 

The exhibition is also made possible through the generosity of the Virginia Cretella Mars Endowment Fund and the Director’s Circle of the National Gallery of Art. 

Exhibition Curators
The exhibition is curated by Alexandra Libby, senior administrator for collections and initiatives; Brooks Rich, associate curator of old master and nineteenth-century prints; and Stacey Sell, associate curator of old master drawings, all of the National Gallery of Art.

Exhibition Publication
Published by the National Gallery of Art in association with Princeton University Press, a new book edited by exhibition curators Alexandra Libby, Brooks Rich, and Stacey Sell will accompany the exhibition. Their work is complemented by a chapter from Brian W. Ogilvie, professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Blending lively and informative essays with more than 100 beautiful illustrations, Little Beasts traces the connections between artists, naturalists, and collectors in an age of scientific discovery and broadening horizons, inviting readers to look with wonder at nature’s variety. The book will be available for purchase in the West Building, East Building, and Concourse Shops and at shop.nga.gov. This publication is supported through a generous grant from the Robert Lehman Foundation.