The Met Museum: A 150-Year History

After more than five months of closure, New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art will reopen its doors on August 29. The museum is planning to welcome the public to a celebration of their 150th anniversary with the exhibition “Making the Met, 1870-2020.”

© The Met Fifth Avenue, Petrie Court, Photo by Brett Beyer

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the founding of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Honoring its history, the Met has decided to launch an exhibition called “Making the Met, 1870-2020.” Visitors will experience an immersive and stimulating journey through the history of one of the world's most important cultural institutions. The exhibition will feature fragile treasures that are only displayed from time to time, rarely seen archival photographs, and stories of behind-the-scenes work.

During the coronavirus shutdown, the Met website has offered weekly selections from its moving-image archive. The hashtag campaign #MetAnywhere is surfacing content from across the Museum's deep digital reserves, available on social media. The Met has also streamed story times for children through social media. While these offerings have helped many access culture during seclusion, the anniversary event next month will be a celebration of the Met’s history, contributions, and the long-awaited reopening.

Works of art donated by 150 collectors and supporters in honor of this anniversary will be on display. The exhibition will reveal the visionary figures who propelled the Met in new directions, from its foundation by a group of New Yorkers in 1870 — who were hoping to establish a major cultural center that would elevate New York’s status in the art world — to the present day. 

Max Hollein, the Director of The Met, said, "The Museum's collection represents 5,000 years of the world's creative expression.” The Met is the fourth largest museum in the world. It is a strong, active, and accessible institution where anyone seeking inspiration can engage.

The Met’s art collection has benefited people from all walks of life: veterans like retired Navy Lieutenant Colonel Michael Zacchea have found artwork to be therapeutic. Zacchea treated his post-traumatic stress in the Met’s ancient Greek and Roman art galleries after returning from the Iraq War. Art brought him joy, comfort and inspiration. Art for all and at the service of all is what the Metropolitan Museum of Art has been offering over the past fifteen decades. Next month’s historical exhibition is the apotheosis of this generosity in the service of New Yorkers, and the event is eagerly awaited in New York City.