To celebrate Philippe de Montebello’s thirty-one years as director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum’s Forum of Curators, Conservators, and Scientists has organized an exhibition of approximately three hundred works of art—from a total of more than eighty-four thousand—that were acquired during his tenure. This unique project is a collaboration among curators from the Museum’s seventeen curatorial departments. Special emphasis is placed on works that have been transformative to the Metropolitan Museum’s collection by building on existing strengths and expanding into new areas.

Acquired by purchase and donation, individually and in groups, these works demonstrate how the de Montebello years have enhanced the Museum’s encyclopedic collection dramatically and have encouraged public access to the greatness of the world’s artistic traditions. Read more about the exhibition or see images of the works on view.