In November 2024, the American Wing celebrates its 100th anniversary with a reinstallation of its extensive collection of art and design. Newly interpreted galleries on three floors will reveal connections across the Wing’s increasingly hemispheric holdings—from the mid-17th to mid-20th century with some contemporary expressions—and foreground meaningful and relevant storylines.
Since its establishment in 1924, when the American Wing featured primarily 17th- and 18th-century furniture, silver and metalwork, ceramics, glass, textiles, and architectural fragments—most exhibited in evocative period-room settings—the department has expanded its collecting to include a wider array of work by makers from across North America. Today, the Wing continues to grow and refine these collections—as well as The Met’s foundational holdings of American painting, sculpture, and works on paper—now exhibited in more than 75 galleries.
Juxtaposing the Wing’s well-known objects with recent acquisitions and select works from across the Museum, in addition to key external loans, will inspire fresh dialogues that deepen understandings of American art, history, and culture. The overall reinstallation is informed by expansive scholarship and a range of curatorial and community voices related to the ongoing redefinition of a broadly conceived American art.
