Permanent display
The Face of Life: Modern Portraits at The Met
from 18 May 2026 at The Met Fifth Avenue
· New York
The Face of Life: Modern Portraits at The Met brings together a rich selection of works from The Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection, tracing the evolution of portraiture through the modern era. From intimate studies to bold, large-scale canvases, the exhibition examines how artists across different movements and traditions have grappled with questions of identity, likeness, and the inner life of their subjects.
Spanning painting, drawing, photography, and sculpture, the show reveals the portrait as one of art's most enduring and contested forms — a mirror held up not only to individual faces, but to the social and cultural forces that shape them.
Spanning painting, drawing, photography, and sculpture, the show reveals the portrait as one of art's most enduring and contested forms — a mirror held up not only to individual faces, but to the social and cultural forces that shape them.
About the venue
The Met Fifth Avenue
· New York
The Met Fifth Avenue is the primary museum building for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The building is located at 1000 Fifth Avenue, along the Museum Mile on the eastern edge of Central Park in Manhattan's Upper East Side.
