The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Members Double Discount Days: November 10–23

Today: Sunday November 22, 2009

American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765–1915 A fascinating union of more than 100 masterpieces depicting ordinary people engaged in life’s tasks and pleasures from the pre-Revolutionary era to the beginning of World War I. Special Exhibition Galleries, 2nd floor October 12, 2009–January 24, 2010
Art of the Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armor, 1156–1868 The first comprehensive exhibition devoted to the arts of the samurai, including the finest examples of arms and armor along with related equipment and accessories from collections in Japan. The Tisch Galleries, 2nd floor October 21, 2009–January 10, 2010
Cinnabar: The Chinese Art of Carved Lacquer This exhibition, which celebrates the Museum’s collection of Carved Chinese Lacquer, showcases approximately 50 examples of the art form. It features several newly acquired works, as well as an important recently restored 18th-century screen that is displayed for the first time. Chinese Decorative Art Galleries, 3rd Floor August 6, 2009–February 21, 2010
Eccentric Visions: The Worlds of Luo Ping (1733–1799) Portraits, landscapes, and flower paintings by one of the most versatile, original, and celebrated artists of eighteenth-century China. Douglas Dillon Galleries for Chinese Painting October 6, 2009–January 10, 2010
Imperial Privilege: Vienna Porcelain of Du Paquier, 1718–44 A presentation of the distinctive tableware, decorative vases, and small-scale sculpture that found great popularity with the Hapsburg court and the Austrian nobility. Wrightsman Exhibition Gallery, European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, 1st floor September 22, 2009–March 21, 2010
Japanese Mandalas: Emanations and Avatars This installation explores the art of Esoteric Buddhism. The Sackler Wing Galleries for the Arts of Japan June 18, 2009–November 29, 2009
Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans A celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of The Americans, Swiss-born Robert Frank’s elegiac suite of black-and-white photographs made on a cross-country trip in 1955–56. Galleries for Drawings, Prints, and Photographs and The Howard Gilman Gallery, 2nd floor September 22, 2009–January 3, 2010
Masterpieces of French Art Deco French Art Deco is one of the great strengths of the Metropolitan’s modern design collection. The Museum has been actively collecting in this area since the 1920s, when pieces were acquired directly from their designers in Paris. This presentation in The Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Gallery features many of the collection’s most important works, some of which have not been shown for generations. The Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Gallery, Lila Acheson Wallace Wing, Modern Art, 1st floor Opened August 4, 2009
Pablo Bronstein at the Met Pablo Bronstein at the Met is a presentation of new work by the London-based artist, addressing the history and future of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Several large ink drawings by the artist suggest a mythical history of the Metropolitan Museum, imagining the building under construction. A series of computer drawings focus on hypothetical futures of the Museum. This is the artist's first solo exhibition in New York. Lila Acheson Wallace Wing, The Gioconda and Joseph King Gallery October 6, 2009–February 21, 2010
Peaceful Conquerors: Jain Manuscript Painting A selection of deluxe, brilliantly adorned manuscripts commissioned in fourteenth-century India by the Jain religious community, all drawn from the Met’s collection. Florence and Herbert Irving Galleries for the Arts of South and Southeast Asia, 3rd floor September 10, 2009–March 28, 2010
Roxy Paine on the Roof: Maelstrom A 130-foot-long by 45-foot-wide stainless-steel sculpture created by contemporary artist Roxy Paine especially for the Museum’s Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, set against Central Park and its architectural backdrop. The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden April 28, 2009–November 29, 2009 (weather permitting)
Silk and Bamboo: Music and Art of China Some 60 musical instruments and works of the art from the Museum’s collection provide an historic record of Chinese musical practices from the fifth century to the present day. Egyptian Art galleries, 1st floor September 5, 2009–February 7, 2010
Surface Tension: Contemporary Photographs from the Collection Surface Tension highlights the ways in which artists use photographic and multi-media techniques to direct our attention to the physical surface of the photograph. Among the works featured are photographs that have been purposely scratched, burned, or painted on, as well as photograms made by placing objects directly on top of a sheet of photographic paper. The exhibition is drawn entirely from the permanent collection and features several recent acquisitions and other contemporary photographs never before shown at the Museum. Joyce and Robert Menschel Hall for Modern Photography, 2nd floor September 15, 2009–May 16, 2010
The Lens and the Mirror: Self-Portraits from the Collection, 1957–2007 As it has developed in Western art over the last six hundred years, self-portraiture has served a variety of purposes for the artist—to practice and advertise one’s skill, to convey status and self-aggrandize, to indulge in fantasy and narcissistic impulse, or simply to document and impart private information publicly. This exhibition—which includes more than fifty paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, and prints—examines a variety of artists’ self-portraits from the collection. The Lila Acheson Wallace Wing, Modern and Contemporary Art, mezzanine north and 1st floor July 21, 2009–December 6, 2009
The New American Wing Part 2: The Charles Engelhard Court and the Period Rooms Part 2 of a major three-part reordering and upgrading of the American Wing, scheduled for completion in 2011, entails the transformation of The Charles Engelhard Court—a unique Museum space where visitors can enjoy treasures of American art in a tranquil setting with a magnificent view of Central Park. American Wing Galleries Opened May 19, 2009
Vermeer's Masterpiece The Milkmaid To celebrate the extraordinary loan of Vermeer's The Milkmaid, the Metropolitan Museum will present Vermeer’s Masterpiece The Milkmaid, a special exhibition that will bring together all five paintings by Vermeer from its collection, along with a select group of works by other Delft artists, placing Vermeer’s superb picture in its historical context. September 10, 2009–November 29, 2009
Watteau, Music, and Theater This exhibition demonstrates the influence of music and theater in the work of Antoine Watteau, one of the most brilliant and original artists of the 18th century. European Paintings Galleries, 2nd floor September 22, 2009–November 29, 2009
Reconstruction and Reinstallation of the Egyptian Art Galleries A dramatic reinstallation of the Museum's superb collections of Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egyptian art and the art of Roman Egypt, as well as the reconfiguration of the architecture of two Old Kingdom tombs. Lila Acheson Wallace Galleries of Egyptian Art, 1st floor Opened January 29, 2004
American Landscapes A selection of nine large and superb American landscape paintings from the Metropolitan Museum’s collection, on view in the newly renovated Robert Lehman Wing. Robert Lehman Wing Opened May 20, 2008
Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection This exhibition presents European works on paper spanning the eighteenth through the twentieth centuries, including a number of recent acquisitions in the area of French drawings. Robert Wood Johnson Jr. Gallery for Drawings and Prints, 2nd floor October 6, 2009–January 10, 2010
Highlights from the Modern Design Collection: 1900 to the Present This installation of highlights from the Museum’s modern and contemporary design collection features 46 objects spanning the past century up to the present, including Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s hand-crafted oak, tile, and glass washstand (1904); Marcel Breuer’s iconic modernist "Wassily" chair (1927); a 1985 Formica "Ivory" table by Italian designer Ettore Sottsass; and architect Zaha Hadid’s 2006 "Gyre" lounge chair, made of polyester resin and lacquer. Also presented are metalwork, ceramics, glass, jewelry, drawings, and posters. LAW Wing, Design and Architecture Gallery June 23, 2009–June 23, 2011
New Galleries for 19th- and Early 20th-Century European Paintings and Sculpture, including the Henry J. Heinz II Galleries The New Galleries for 19th- and Early 20th-Century European Paintings and Sculpture are reopening with renovated rooms and 8,000 square feet of additional gallery space—the Henry J. Heinz II Galleries—to showcase works from 1800 through the early 20th century, including many works that were not previously on view. Nineteenth-Century European Paintings and Sculpture Galleries, 2nd floor Opened December 4, 2007
New Gallery for the Art of Native North America This permanent new gallery displays an array of works from the Museum's Native North American collection, ranging from wood sculpture from the Northwest Coast of North America and ivory carvings from the Arctic to wearing blankets from the Southwest and works on hide from the Great Plains. Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas—The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, 1st floor Opened November 14, 2007
New Greek and Roman Galleries The eagerly awaited opening of this new complex of Hellenistic, Etruscan, and Roman galleries completes the reconstruction and reinstallation of the permanent galleries of Greek and Roman art. Greek and Roman Art Galleries, 1st floor Opened April 20, 2007
North Italian Drawings, 1410-1550: Selections from the Robert Lehman Collection and the Department of Drawings and Prints Featuring 31 drawings from the Metropolitan Museum’s Robert Lehman Collection, with an additional ten chosen from the Department of Drawings and Prints, this installation will showcase a period in Italian art that witnessed the emergence of drawing as an essential tool for artists. These rare examples of North Italian drawings from the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries will illustrate the versatility of the medium over more than a century. Highlights will include the magnificent colored drawing of a Gazelle from the circle of Michelino da Besozzo; the large pen-and-ink drawing from the circle of Giovanni Bellini depicting Vulcan Building a Fence Around the Mount of Venus; and two landscape drawings by Domenico Campagnola. Robert Lehman Wing November 3, 2009–January 31, 2010
Reinstallation of the South Asia Galleries Gandhara, Mathura, Andhra and Gupta Sculpture These galleries explore the South Asian emergence of Buddhist and Hindu sculptural traditions between the 2nd century B.C. and the 8th century A.D. Florence and Herbert Irving Galleries for the Arts of South and Southeast Asia, 2nd floor Opened August 10, 2007
Reopening of the Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries for Byzantine Art and the Medieval Europe Gallery Portions of the Medieval Galleries have been newly renovated and reinstalled thanks to the generous support of Mary and Michael Jaharis, and the Museum's newly acquired Byzantine Lectionary is prominently displayed in the apse beneath the Great Hall Stairs. Medieval Art galleries, first floor Opened November 18, 2008
Sounding the Pacific: Musical Instruments of Oceania This exhibition—the first in an art museum to be devoted exclusively to Oceanic musical instruments—explores the rich diversity of musical instruments created and used in the Pacific Islands. Drawn primarily from the Metropolitan’s collections, the exhibition features more than fifty instruments from small personal types such as panpipes and courting whistles to larger forms played at performances heard by the entire community, such as the exquisitely carved temple drums of the Austral Islands or the imposing sacred slit gongs of New Guinea. Michael C. Rockefeller Wing November 17, 2009–September 6, 2010
*The Young Archer* Attributed to Michelangelo** The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents the marble sculpture Young Archer, attributed to Michelangelo Buonarroti (Florence 1475–Rome 1564), in its Vélez Blanco Patio as part of a special loan from the French Republic, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. Vélez Blanco Patio Opened November 3, 2009
Velázquez Rediscovered Velázquez Rediscovered features a newly identified painting by Velázquez, Portrait of a Man, formerly ascribed to the workshop of Velázquez, and recently reattributed to the master himself following its cleaning and restoration. It will be shown alongside other works from the Museum’s superior collection of works by the great Spanish painter. European Paintings, Gallery 16, 2nd floor November 17, 2009–February 7, 2010
Please note that all of the events listed above are subject to change. For additional information, consult one of our staff members at an Information Desk upon arrival at the Museum. Events are free with Museum admission unless otherwise noted.

Photograph Credits