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EXHIBITION

A New Look at
Old Masters
December 12, 2020 – Through Spring
2023
Now on view at The Met Fifth Avenue , Various Locations

Exhibitions are free with Museum admission.

Plan your visit All exhibitions

Overview

A New Look at Old Masters will explore a

variety of themes in The Met’s collection of
European painting, creating new dialogues
among the works and including a large
presentation of sculpture.

While one gallery will highlight the creation of

still life and genre painting in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, two others will
provide an overview of oil sketches from the
sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries,
leading up to the Museum's unsurpassed
collection of works by Giovanni Battista
Tiepolo. A large gallery will display portraiture
in the Grand Siècle, juxtaposing outstanding
paintings by Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony
van Dyck with Charles Le Brun’s monumental
family portrait of the banker Everhard Jabach.

The eighteenth-century French galleries will

take up such themes as the study of
expression, François Boucher and the
decorative arts, and the role of female artists,
who finally found a place in the academy. The
Met’s unique collection of French Neoclassical
painting, dominated by gifts from Jayne
Wrightsman, will be installed with sculptured
busts by Jean Antoine Houdon of the
essential figures of the Enlightenment: Denis
Diderot and Voltaire.

These are just a few examples of the novel

themes that will be on display.

A New Look at Old Masters is part of the

European Paintings Skylights Project and is a
prelude to the final, expansive re-installation
of the European Paintings galleries that will
take place after the project is completed.

Featured Media

VIDEO

Exhibition Tour
Join curators Keith Christiansen, Stephan
Wolohojian, and Adam Eaker on a tour through
the newly installed European Paintings
galleries and explore new dialogues and
themes among the works.

PERSPECTIVES

Read more on Perspectives

In this series, read about the series of
provocative galleries that introduce fresh
themes and narratives about European art.

Latest reviews

“ Works we’ve loved all our lives have never

looked better, while some that we may have
slighted in the past demand and reward
attention in thought-provoking groupings
and comparisons that reveal the wealth and
depth of the collection. ”
—Karen Wilkin, Wall Street Journal

“ ...the deepest pleasure in having the

European painting galleries back—all 45 will
reopen in 2022—is the opportunity to
revisit friends, many long-familiar, some
new. ”
—Holland Cotter, The New York Times

“ The light in the galleries, controlled by the

new system of skylights, changes with the
seasons and the times of day, allowing the
paintings to be seen afresh in subtly varied
conditions. The display asks us to look at the
works differently, too—in a more nuanced
way, and with a new clarity. ”
—Linda Wolk-Simon, Apollo

Marquee: An array of European Paintings viewable at The

Met Fifth Ave.

Plan Your Visit

Dates
December 12, 2020 – Through Spring 2023

The Met Fifth Avenue

Various Locations

Reserve Entry
Exhibitions are free with Museum admission.

Plan your visit All exhibitions

The Met Fifth Avenue

1000 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10028
Phone: 212-535-7710

The Met Cloisters

99 Margaret Corbin Drive

Fort Tryon Park
New York, NY 10040
Phone: 212-923-3700

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