Met Museum unveils major Raphael exhibition for 2026

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced "Raphael: Sublime Poetry," the first comprehensive U.S. exhibition dedicated to Renaissance master Raphael, set to open March 29, 2026, and run through June 28, 2026. The landmark exhibition will feature more than 200 works including paintings, drawings, tapestries and decorative objects from prestigious institutions worldwide, making it the largest Raphael exhibition ever mounted in America.x+1

The announcement, made via the Met's social media channels on August 25, represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for American audiences to experience the full breadth of Raphael's artistic genius. The exhibition will trace the Renaissance master's career from his origins in Urbino through his time in Florence, where he emerged as a peer to Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, to his final decade at the papal court in Rome.artnews+2

Seven Years in the Making

The exhibition is being curated by Carmen Bambach, the Met's Marica F. and Jan T. Vilcek Curator in the Department of Drawings and Prints, who previously organized the museum's acclaimed "Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman & Designer" exhibition in 2017-18. That blockbuster exhibition attracted over 700,000 visitors, making it the 10th most visited exhibition in the Met's 148-year history and the most visited drawings exhibition ever organized by the museum.theartnewspaper+2

"The seven-year journey of putting together this exhibition has been an extraordinary chance to reframe my understanding of this monumental artist," Bambach said in a statement. She has been working on the logistically complex show since 2018, when her previous Michelangelo exhibition closed.news.artnet+1

The exhibition will reunite finished paintings with preparatory drawings, including "The Virgin and Child with Infant Saint John the Baptist in a Landscape (The Alba Madonna)" from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., which will be displayed alongside studies for it from the Museum of Fine Arts in Lille, France. Other highlights include the "Portrait of Baldassarre Castiglione" from the Louvre, widely regarded as one of the greatest portraits of the High Renaissance.lanacion+2

International Collaboration

Major loans have been secured from institutions across the globe, including the Vatican Museums, the Louvre in Paris, the British Museum and National Gallery in London, the Galleria Borghese in Rome, the Uffizi in Florence, the Prado in Madrid, the Albertina in Vienna, and the Städel Museum in Frankfurt. The exhibition represents an unprecedented level of international cooperation, with many works never before shown together.news.artnet+2

The last Raphael exhibition of similar scope in the United States was the National Gallery of Art's "Raphael and America" in 1983, which commemorated the 500th anniversary of the artist's birth and included more than 100 objects. That exhibition examined Raphael's historical importance for American artists and collectors.nga+1

The Met's exhibition will pay special attention to Raphael's portrayal of women, from his pioneering use of nude female models to his tender depictions of the Madonna and Child, as well as recent scientific discoveries about his work. The show will not travel to other venues.theartnewspaper+2