The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York City · United States · Founded 1870
The largest art museum in the Americas with over two million works.
3.2 million
Annual Visitors
Over 1.5 million works
Collection
3–5 hours
Recommended Visit
Richard Morris Hunt · McKim, Mead & White (main facade, 1902)
Architect
About The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially 'the Met', is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments.
The main building at 1000 Fifth Avenue, along the Museum Mile on the eastern edge of Central Park, is by area one of the world's largest art museums. A much smaller second location, The Cloisters at Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, contains an extensive collection of art, architecture, and artifacts from medieval Europe.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 with its mission to bring art and art education to the American people. The museum's permanent collection consists of works of art from classical antiquity and ancient Egypt, paintings, and sculptures from nearly all the European masters, and an extensive collection of American and modern art.
The Met maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine, and Islamic art. The museum is home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes, and accessories, as well as antique weapons and armor from around the world.
Masterworks & Must-See Highlights
The works that define The Metropolitan Museum of Art — and why they matter.
Washington Crossing the Delaware
Emanuel Leutze · 1851
Gallery 760, American Wing
A monumental 3.7 × 6.4 m canvas depicting George Washington's pivotal crossing of the Delaware River on 25 December 1776. One of the most recognisable images in American history, though historically idealised.
Cypresses
Vincent van Gogh · 1889
Gallery 825
Painted a month after Van Gogh voluntarily admitted himself to an asylum in Saint-Rémy, this swirling composition with a turbulent sky and dramatically tall cypress tree is among his most celebrated works.
Autumn Rhythm (Number 30)
Jackson Pollock · 1950
Gallery 919
A monumental 2.7 × 5.3 m drip painting made at the height of Pollock's powers. One of the defining works of Abstract Expressionism, created by pouring and dripping paint onto canvas laid on the floor.
Portrait of Juan de Pareja
Diego Velázquez · 1650
Gallery 619
When exhibited in Rome in 1650 it caused a sensation; other painters' works by comparison were said to look like painted cardboard. The subject was Velázquez's enslaved assistant, whom the artist subsequently freed.
Temple of Dendur
Ancient Egyptian · 15 BCE
The Sackler Wing
An intact Roman-period Egyptian temple transported stone by stone from Nubia in 1978 before the region was flooded by the Aswan Dam. Now installed in a purpose-built glass-walled wing beside a reflecting pool.
Collections & Highlights
Frequently Asked Questions
A small ask before you go
You've just explored one of humanity's greatest collections of beauty. Art has the power to move us, inspire us, and change how we see the world. But millions of people will never see beauty like this — not because the art isn't there, but because they can't see at all.
Preventable blindness, caused by conditions like cataracts and trachoma, affects people of all ages across the world's poorest communities. A small gift — for the cost of a museum ticket — can provide a simple surgery to restore someone's sight and transform their life.