Past exhibitions

Opening 19 October 2012. The history of the Royal Navy of the late 18th and early 19th centuries through the acerbic wit of contemporary caricature.

March–October 2012. A small exhibition using unique objects from the collection to commemorate the centenary of the sinking of the 'Titanic'.

Opening 27 April 2012, an exhibition exploring the relationship between monarch, City and people, as brought to life on the Thames.

How astronomers have tried to understand the size of the cosmos, and how each breakthrough has made the Earth seem ever smaller.

The Museum commissioned United Visual Artists to convey the ocean’s scale, beauty and vulnerability in an era of global climate change.

Our new photographic exhibition reflects the joys and trials of the heyday of cruising, 1925-70.

From meteor showers to asteroids, Earth is constantly bombarded from space. This free exhibition looks at these fiery visitors and their impact.

Toy Boats showcased over 100 colourful and imaginative toys recalling grand liners, submarines and battleships.

An exhibition that runs alongside BBC Four's new series, 'Boats that Built Britain', part of the Sea Fever Season.

Welcome aboard the Halley Space Shuttle for a trip through our Solar System. Which planet would you like to visit for the holiday of a lifetime?

An exhibition of striking images telling the story of our attempts to understand the nature of the Sun and its effects on Earth.

A display of evocative photographs by Alan Villiers (1903–82) depicting life on merchant sailing vessels in the 1920s-30s.

'Given' presents a series of newly-commissioned works that take as their starting point a very particular journey.

Freeze Frame was a display of some of the earliest photographs of the Arctic, its landscape and people.

An exhibition drawing on the extraordinary stories surrounding the 19th-century British Arctic expeditions.

A unique exhibition of NASA images from the Cassini-Huygens mission revealing the beauty of Saturn, its rings and moons.

Photographs, posters and seaside memorabilia capturing the essence of both working life and early tourism along the British coast.

An exhibition celebrating the National Maritime Museum’s unrivalled collection of 16th- and 17th-century Dutch and Flemish maritime paintings.

A new commission from Renée Green which draws attention to literary, historic and sonic imaginations of islands.

Simon Patterson’s artwork explores the sea, ships and time, concepts that are at the heart of NMM collections and research.

A special exhibition celebrating the enduring influence of nautical styles on fashion.

This exhibition explored the lives of two dominant leaders and adversaries, Horatio Nelson and Napoleon Bonaparte.

This exhibition celebrated William Hodges, the 18th-century landscape artist, contexturalising his work in British global maritime expansion.

2007 marked 100 years since British Summer Time was first proposed. But why change the clocks; which way; and whose idea was it?

31 March–5 September 2004. This exhibition commemorated the 75th anniversary of Tintin's first adventure.

This exhibition brought together personal items, paintings, manuscripts and exhibits to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Elizabeth's death.

An exhibition bringing together a range of objects to illuminate the history, development and diversity of tattooing over the past 200 years.

A transit of Venus occurs only twice every 113 years. This exhibition celebrated the early expeditions to observe this phenomenon.