by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on July 14, 2026 / Updated on July 16, 2026
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +447429011000
Metropolitan museum of art 3.jpg by Fcb981; CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped for TheHistoryOfArt.org. · Image source
Current and upcoming exhibitions
These exhibitions are placed high on the page because they are the clearest reason to plan a visit around this museum now.
About The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, USA, is a useful starting point for encyclopedic art museum as a civilisation-scale resource. The 5 attached exhibitions help the page work both as a collection guide and as a practical route into what is on now.
For a first visit, build the route around European painting, antiquities, Islamic art, Asian art, American art, decorative arts, Renaissance sculpture and European textiles. Artists especially worth slowing down for include Ingres, Delacroix, Gérôme, Rembrandt, Lee Krasner, Jackson Pollock, Luca della Robbia, Andrea della Robbia, Charles Le Brun and Heber R. Bishop. Current and upcoming exhibitions can then help decide what deserves priority on the day.
Collection highlights to prioritise
These works are not a complete top-ten list. They are strong anchors for a first visit: objects that help explain the museum’s identity, support deeper interpretation and connect naturally to artists or artworks elsewhere on the site.
- Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze, 1851. American Wing anchor and high-recognition visitor highlight
- The Death of Socrates by Jacques Louis David, 1787. European painting highlight; Neoclassical history painting route
- Aristotle with a Bust of Homer by Rembrandt, 1653. Rembrandt anchor and European painting highlight
- Madame X by John Singer Sargent, 1883-1884. American/European society portrait anchor and visitor favourite
- Autumn Rhythm by Jackson Pollock, 1950. Bridge to Pollock/Krasner exhibition and Abstract Expressionism
- Grande Odalisque by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, 1814. Representative Orientalism/exhibition visual anchor, though held by the Louvre not the Met
Use these highlights as a route, not a checklist. The most rewarding visit will usually come from slowing down in front of fewer works and noticing how chronology, patronage, material, national school and display sequence change the way each object reads.
Plan around current exhibitions
Current and upcoming exhibitions are one of the clearest reasons to visit or revisit the museum now. A visitor may arrive here from the museum name, from an artist search, or from the exhibitions table; either way, the page should make the live programme easy to understand before sending readers to official venue details.
Sources and further reading
Use these official museum pages, object records and exhibition sources to check details and keep exploring.
- About The Met
Core institutional history and scale source - The Met Collection
Core collection source - European Paintings
Collection department source - The American Wing
Collection department source - Orientalism: Between Fact and Fantasy
Current exhibition support - Spring 2026 exhibitions
Upcoming exhibition support
How to use this guide
Before travelling, check The Metropolitan Museum of Art directly for opening hours, temporary closures, access arrangements and ticketing. This page avoids precise pricing by design, because prices and discounts change more often than the art-historical content. The stable value is route planning: what to see, why it matters, and which related pages are worth opening next.
