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218 results for ancient world

Looking for current exhibitions? Check the Current Exhibitions page.
Image for Arts of the Ancient Americas
Exhibition

Arts of the Ancient Americas

Ongoing
Following a multiyear renovation, the new installation reintroduces visitors to the Museum’s collection of ancestral arts of the Americas, representing the artistic legacy of Indigenous artists from across North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean prior to 1600 CE.
Image for Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876–Now
Past Exhibition

Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876–Now

November 17, 2024–February 17, 2025
Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876–Now examines how Black artists and other cultural figures have engaged with ancient Egypt through visual art, sculpture, literature, music, scholarship, religion, politics, and performance. I…
Image for Chroma: Ancient Sculpture in Color
Past Exhibition

Chroma: Ancient Sculpture in Color

July 5, 2022–March 26, 2023
Ancient Greek and Roman sculpture was once colorful, vibrantly painted and richly adorned with detailed ornamentation. Chroma: Ancient Sculpture in Color reveals the colorful backstory of polychromy—meaning “many colors,” in Greek—and presents new …
Image for Weaving Abstraction in Ancient and Modern Art
Past Exhibition

Weaving Abstraction in Ancient and Modern Art

March 5–June 16, 2024
The process of creating textiles has long been a springboard for artistic invention. In Weaving Abstraction in Ancient and Modern Art, two extraordinary bodies of work separated by at least 500 years are brought together to explore the striking con…
Image for New York Art Worlds, 1870–1890
Past Exhibition

New York Art Worlds, 1870–1890

December 12, 2022–July 21, 2024
This exhibition explores aspects of the lived experience of being an artist in New York City during the 1870s and 1880s, an era of rapid socio-economic change. Drawing largely from the American Wing’s varied collections, the display investigates th…
Image for The Celebration: A Selection of Works by the 2025 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards New York City Gold Key Recipients
Past Exhibition

The Celebration: A Selection of Works by the 2025 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards New York City Gold Key Recipients

March 28–May 18, 2025
This exhibition features more than 500 works of art and writing by New York City teens who received the highest regional recognition in the 2025 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards—the Gold Key Award. Presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Write…
Image for Divine Egypt
Past Exhibition

Divine Egypt

October 12, 2025–January 19, 2026
Divine Egypt showcases 250 works revealing how ancient Egyptians used images to connect with their gods, blending art, ritual, and daily life across millennia.
Image for Art Work: Artists Working at The Met
Past Exhibition

Art Work: Artists Working at The Met

June 6–19, 2022
Since 1935, staff members working as a part of The Met community, many of whom are accomplished artists, have shared their creative contributions with each other on a regular basis. This year we are delighted to open this presentation of their work…
Image for Art Work: Artists Working at The Met
Past Exhibition

Art Work: Artists Working at The Met

November 18–December 1, 2024
Since 1935, staff members working as a part of The Met community, many of whom are accomplished artists, have shared their creative contributions with each other on a regular basis. We are delighted to open this presentation of their work to the pu…
Image for Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room
Exhibition

Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room

Ongoing
Seneca Village, a 19th-century Black community in today’s Central Park, was displaced in 1857. The exhibit imagines its thriving future through Afrofuturism, art, and storytelling.
Image for Pergamon and the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Ancient World
Exhibitions

Pergamon and the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Ancient World

This exhibition will bring together more than 265 exquisite objects that were created through the patronage of the royal courts of the Hellenistic kingdoms, with an emphasis on the ancient city of Pergamon.

On view April 18–July 17, 2016

Image for The World between Empires: Art and Identity in the Ancient Middle East
Exhibitions

The World between Empires: Art and Identity in the Ancient Middle East

A new perspective on the vibrant artistic and cultural identities that flourished at the edges of two ancient empires as they competed for regional control.

On view March 18–June 23, 2019

Exhibitions

Art of the First Cities

Art of the First Cities surveys the evolution of art and culture in the land between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates and their impact on the emerging cities of the ancient world—from the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean across Central Asia and along the Gulf to the Indus Valley—during one of the most seminal and creative periods in history.

Exhibitions

Treasures from a Lost Civilization

Monumental bronze images of deities, lively human figures, fantastic ritual vessels, exquisite jades, and spirited ceramic sculptures dating from the thirteenth century B.C. to the third century A.D.

Image for Man, Myth, and Sensual Pleasures
Exhibitions

Man, Myth, and Sensual Pleasures

The first major exhibition in forty-five years devoted to the Burgundian Netherlandish artist Jan Gossart (ca. 1478–1532) brings together Gossart's paintings, drawings, and prints and places them in the context of the art and artists that influenced his transformation from Late Gothic Mannerism to the new Renaissance mode.

On view October 6, 2010–January 17, 2011

Image for Section One
Exhibitions

Section One

Diamonds of the Deccan

Image for Another World Lies Beyond: Chinese Art and the Divine
Exhibitions

Another World Lies Beyond: Chinese Art and the Divine

This exhibition presents a rich display of images of the divine from premodern China, ranging from serene, monochrome Buddhist paintings to raucous, colorful sculptures of popular deities.

On view August 24, 2019–January 5, 2020

Exhibitions

The World of Scholars' Rocks

This exhibition, on view February 1 through August 20, 2000, explored rocks as accoutrements of the scholar's study in China, accompanied by approximately ninety paintings drawn primarily from the Museum's collection.

Image for Golden Kingdoms: Luxury and Legacy in the Ancient Americas
Exhibitions

Golden Kingdoms: Luxury and Legacy in the Ancient Americas

This landmark exhibition of luxury arts of the Incas, the Aztecs, and their predecessors traces the emergence and florescence of goldworking in the ancient Americas, from its earliest appearance in the Andes to its later developments farther north in Central America and Mexico.

On view February 28–May 28, 2018

Image for The Games in Ancient Athens
Exhibitions

The Games in Ancient Athens

In honor of the modern Olympics being held in Athens, this selection of ancient Greek vases, bronzes, and other works—on view June 29 through October 3, 2004—showcases aspects of games held at Athens in antiquity.