New York's Metropolitan Museum Reopened 45 Newly Installed European Paintings Galleries; The Reconfigured Galleries Give Renewed Attention to Women Artists ...
Dates: November 20, 2023 – Ongoing
Location: The Met Fifth Avenue, Galleries 600–644
Look Again: European Paintings 1300 – 1800 highlights new narratives and juxtapositions among more than 700 works of art, following an approximately five-year-long project to replace the galleries’ skylights
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has reopened its full suite of 45 galleries dedicated to European paintings from 1300 to 1800 on November 20, 2023, following the completion of an extensive skylight renovation project that began in 2018. A chronological sequence of engaging displays showcases more than 700 works from the Museum’s world-famous holdings, offering fresh dialogues and thematic groupings. The newly reconfigured galleries — which include recently acquired paintings and significant loans, as well as select sculptures and works of decorative art — illuminate the interconnectedness of cultures, materials, and moments in the collection.
Major support for Look Again: European Paintings 1300–1800 is provided by Candace K. and Frederick W. Beinecke.
"The Met has one of the greatest collections of European paintings in the world. The highly anticipated reopening of this vast suite of galleries will invite visitors to reunite with old favorites — and discover incredible recent gifts and lesser-known artworks—all within a newly considered context,” said Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer. “The completion of the enormous skylights renovation project allows us to display these exceptional works of art within a superb setting, and we look forward to welcoming all to enjoy this splendid presentation of art and ideas for many years to come.”
Stephan Wolohojian, the John Pope-Hennessy Curator in Charge of the Department of European Paintings, added: “The skylights project presented us with an important opportunity to reconceptualize the presentation of The Met’s extraordinary collection through a fresh lens. Our goal is to engage meaningfully with our many audiences and make the experience of viewing our collection as rich, layered, and rewarding as possible.”
The gateway gallery located at the top of the Great Hall staircase, featuring three monumental paintings by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, introduces the geographic boundaries of the collection while simultaneously inviting consideration of the dynamic nature of European borders and the diverse global afterlives of Mediterranean antiquity. The galleries then unfold chronologically, setting works of Northern and Southern Europe into direct dialogue, a departure from the previous display, which focused on national schools and geographic distinctions. In addition to featuring longstanding strengths of the collection — such as individual masterpieces by artists like Rembrandt, Caravaggio, and Poussin; the largest collection of 17th-century Dutch art in North America; and the most extensive holdings of El Greco and Goya outside Spain — the reconfigured galleries give renewed attention to women artists, explore Europe’s complex relationships with New Spain and the Viceroyalty of Peru, and look more deeply into the histories of class, gender, race, and religion. “Collection highlights,” designated by their wall labels, anchor galleries and guide visitors through the space.
Recent acquisitions help expand the narratives told through the collection. A still-life by Clara Peeters, right, an early 17th-century artist working in Flanders, reveals the close link between floral painting and botanical illustration during the Scientific Revolution and also highlights women’s foundational role in the history of European still life painting. William Wood’s portrait of Joanna de Silva, painted during a time of rapidly expanding British colonialism, is an extremely rare independent likeness of an identifiable Indian woman by an 18th-century English artist. Francesco Salviati’s painting of Bindo Altoviti, an outstanding example of Italian Renaissance portraiture, is the first painting on marble to enter The Met collection. A rare painting by the French painter Antoine Le Nain is also shown in the galleries for the first time as part of the permanent collection.
Exceptional groupings of varied works, made possible by the vast richness of The Met collection, encourage consideration of European paintings within the greater arc of history and artistic production. Works from the Department of European Paintings are juxtaposed with works from other curatorial areas, including sculptures, metalwork, decorative arts, musical instruments, arms and armor, and modern art. A gallery dedicated to the topic of “The Artist’s Studio,” for example, features Kerry James Marshall’s Untitled (Studio) (2014) surrounded by paintings made in centuries past that similarly suggest the generative activity of the workshop, draw the viewer into the process of the work’s making, and highlight the Museum’s longstanding tradition of engagement with practicing artists. The rediscovery of El Greco by European Modernists is evoked by the inclusion of Paul Cézanne and early Pablo Picasso among The Met’s world-renowned collection of works by this earlier painter. Venetian paintings by Titian, Jacopo Tintoretto, and Paolo Veronese are shown alongside five Venetian bronzes.
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