Grid of six black and white photographic portraits of artists

The Artist Project

What artists see when they look at The Met

Ever since it was founded in 1870, The Metropolitan Museum of Art has been a place where artists come to gain inspiration from works of art from their own time and place, and also from across time and cultures.

The Artist Project is an online series in which we give artists an opportunity to respond to our encyclopedic collection.

From March 2015 to June 2016, we invited 120 artists—local, national, and global—to choose individual works of art or galleries that sparked their imaginations. In this online series, artists reflect on what art is, what inspires them from across 5,000 years of art, and in so doing, they reveal the power of a museum and The Met. Their unique and passionate ways of seeing and experiencing art encourage all museum visitors to look in a personal way.

Over the course of six seasons, The Artist Project shares the perspectives of one hundred and twenty artists with the public, telling us what they see when they look at The Met.

View previous seasons
Andrea Bowers on Howardena Pindell
Video
Artist Andrea Bowers reflects on Howardena Pindell in this episode of The Artist Project.
June 6, 2016
Barry X Ball on an Egyptian fragment of a queen’s face
Video
Artist Barry X Ball reflects on an Egyptian fragment of a queen’s face in this episode of The Artist Project.
June 6, 2016
Carolee Schneemann on Cycladic female figures
Video
Artist Carolee Schneemann reflects on Cycladic female figures in this episode of The Artist Project.
June 6, 2016
Catherine Opie on the Louis XIV bedroom
Video
Artist Catherine Opie reflects on the Louis XIV bedroom in this episode of The Artist Project.
June 6, 2016
Cecily Brown on medieval sculptures of the Madonna and Child
Video
Artist Cecily Brown reflects on medieval sculptures of the Madonna and Child in this episode of The Artist Project.
June 6, 2016
Eric Fischal on Max Beckmann's "Beginning"
Video
Artist Eric Fischl reflects on Max Beckmann's Beginning in this episode of The Artist Project.
June 6, 2016
Fred Tomaselli on "Guru Dragpo"
Video
Artist Fred Tomaselli reflects on Guru Dragpo in this episode of The Artist Project.
June 6, 2016
Jacob El Hanani on the "Mishneh Torah," by Master of the Barbo Missal
Video
Artist Jacob El Hanani reflects on the Mishneh Torah by Master of the Barbo Missal in this episode of The Artist Project.
June 6, 2016
Jeff Koons on Roman sculpture
Video
Artist Jeff Koons reflects on Roman sculpture in this episode of The Artist Project.
June 6, 2016
Joan Snyder on Florine Stettheimer's "Cathedrals" paintings
Video
Artist Joan Snyder reflects on Florine Stettheimer's Cathedrals paintings in this episode of The Artist Project.
June 6, 2016
Krishna Reddy on Henry Moore
Video
Artist Krishna Reddy reflects on Henry Moore in this episode of The Artist Project.
June 6, 2016
Lin Tianmiao on Alex Katz's "Black and Brown Blouse"
Video
Artist Lin Tianmiao reflects on Alex Katz's Black and Brown Blouse in this episode of The Artist Project.
June 6, 2016
Mary Weatherford on Goya's "Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga"
Video
Artist Mary Weatherford reflects on Goya's Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga in this episode of The Artist Project.
June 6, 2016
Nan Goldin on Julia Margaret Cameron
Video
Artist Nan Goldin reflects on Julia Margaret Cameron in this episode of The Artist Project.
June 6, 2016
Petah Coyne on a Japanese outer robe with Mount Hōrai
Video
Artist Petah Coyne reflects on a Japanese outer robe with Mount Hōrai in this episode of The Artist Project.
June 6, 2016
Rashid Rana on Umberto Boccioni's "Unique Forms of Continuity in Space"
Video
Artist Rashid Rana reflects on Umberto Boccioni's Unique Forms of Continuity in Space in this episode of The Artist Project.
June 6, 2016
Suzan Frecon on Duccio di Buoninsegna's "Madonna and Child"
Video
Artist Suzan Frecon reflects on Duccio di Buoninsegna's Madonna and Child in this episode of The Artist Project.
June 6, 2016
William Wegman on Walker Evans's postcard collection
Video
Artist William Wegman reflects on Walker Evans's postcard collection in this episode of The Artist Project.
June 6, 2016
Zhang Xiaogang on El Greco's "The Vision of Saint John"
Video
Artist Zhang Xiaogang reflects on El Greco's The Vision of Saint John in this episode of The Artist Project.
June 6, 2016

About Season 6

Twenty artists share their perspectives on works of art at The Met


An iPhone showing the Immaterial podcast art for Season 2 - white "Immaterial" logo text superimposed on a close-up of colorful feathers.
5,000 years of art, one material at a time
A chalk-line illustration of an art detective points her magnifying glass at a microscope; hands reach towards the microscope while a crew of bugs and a fingerprint ghost look on
The science behind the art (and the art behind the science!) at The Met.
A new podcast about the art and legacy of the Harlem Renaissance