The National Museum of African Art is home to a wide-ranging collection of artworks reflecting the rich cultures of the African continent. The museum's permanent collection features approximately 525 artworks from the world-famous Walt Disney-Tishman collection (60 of which are on view on level one), including a rare 15th-century ivory tusk carved in Sierra Leone that bears the coats of arms for Portugal's and Spain's ruling houses.

Exhibitions

Central Nigeria Unmasked: arts of the benue River Valley (Sept. 14, 2011-March 4, 2012). The Benue River Valley is the source of some of the most abstract, dramatic and inventive sculpture on the African continent. See more than 150 objects including stylized animal-human fusions and elaborate iron regalia.

African Mosaic: Celebrating a Decade of Collecting (Indefinite). This exhibition features 112 works from the museum's permanent collections. It elegantly conveys the dazzling spectrum of Africa's arts, with objects ranging from gold jewelry and wooden figures to a whimsical coffin made in the shape of cell phone.

Artists in Dialogue 2: Sandile Zulu and Henrique Oliveira (Feb. 2, 2011-Dec. 4, 2011). The second in a series of exhibitions that invites two artists—at least one of whom is African—to engage in an artistic conversation by creating artworks in re­sponse to the other's work. South Africa's Sandile Zulu meets Brazilian artist Henrique Oliveira.

A Brave New World (Aug. 9, 2010- Nov. 27, 2011). Ethiopian artist Theo Eshetu's mesmerizing video installation plays on a screen fitted within a box that resembles a gold-framed painting hanging on a wall.