OPEN NOW | The Ascent of Rauschenberg: Reinventing the Art of Flight at The National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C.
The Ascent of Rauschenberg: Reinventing the Art of Flight in the Flight and the Arts Center gallery, National Air and Space Museum. Photo credit: Daniel Soñé, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
July 1, 2026 – July 2027
The Ascent of Rauschenberg: Reinventing the Art of Flight explores how Rauschenberg returned to the theme of flight throughout his career, viewing it as a metaphor for human ambition, collaboration, and imagination. The exhibition of thirty works by the artist, some of which are on public view for the first time, occurs at the confluence of several anniversaries – the Centennial of Rauschenberg’s birth, the fiftieth anniversary of the National Air and Space Museum, and the semiquincentennial of the United States. Along with works from the Stoned Moon series, which was inspired by Rauschenberg’s presence at the Apollo 11 launch in 1969 and his participation in the NASA Art Program, visitors will view a number of Gluts (1986-1994), sculptures incorporating found objects including metal wings and desk fans. Rauschenberg’s Sky House I (1988), a rarely seen art kite created for Goethe Institute Osaka’s Art Kite Festival in Japan (1989), is on display for the first time in more than thirty years.
