It was inaugurated on 23 March Raphael: Sublime Poetry, the largest international loan exhibition in the United States dedicated to Raffaello, scheduled from 29 March to 28 June 2026 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Raffaello (Raffaello di Giovanni Santi; 1483–1520) is considered one of the greatest artists of all time and this historical exhibition will explore the entire arch of his life and career: Combining more than 200 of Raffaello’s most important designs, paintings, tapestries and works of decorative arts, from public and private collections around the world, the exhibition will offer a new perspective on a central figure of the Italian Renaissance, flanking famous masterpieces to works rarely exhibited to reveal an extraordinary creative mind.
The exhibition’s sponsor is Morgan Stanley. The main funding is provided by Kenneth C. Griffin and Griffin Catalyst, and Jessie and Charles Price. A significant support is provided by the Richard Riney Family Foundation, the Ing Foundation and Anthony W. and Lulu C. Wang. Further support is provided by Julie and David Tobey, Barbara A. Wolfe, Gilbert and Ildiko Butler, and Ann M. Spruill and Daniel H. Cantwell.
Max Hollein, director and CEO of Met, said that “Italy has long been one of the most important partners in Met and our collaboration with museums and cultural institutions in Italy continues to thrive. Partnerships through exhibitions, scholarships and reciprocal loans make it possible to dialogue extraordinary works between different collections, deepening our understanding of the world through millennia. Together we can continue to share the wealth of Italian artistic heritage with the public of New York, Italy and around the world. ”
Among the main masterpieces on display are The Madonna with Child and Saint John in a landscape (Madonna Alba) of the National Gallery of Art, one of the most emblematic examples of Raffaello’s mastery in the ideals of classical harmony and beauty of the Upper Renaissance, which will be put in dialogue with the preparatory drawings preserved at the Museum of Fine Arts in Lille, and the Portrait of Baldassarre Castiglione, today at the Louvre, widely considered one of the High Renaissance.
Among the lender bodies are: National Museum of Art, Art Gallery, Art Gallery, Art Gallery.
“The seven-year journey that led to the realization of this exhibition was an extraordinary opportunity to focus my understanding of this monumental artist,” said Carmen Bambach, Marica F. and Jan T. Vilcek Curator of the Department of Drawings and Stamps of Met. “It is an exciting opportunity to confront his unique artistic personality through visual power, intellectual depth and tenderness of his images”.
Among the guests of the inauguration also present the Italian Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, who to the microphones of the journalists present has emphasized the value of the operation “research and contribution of the most important Italian museums for an exhibition that in the 250 years that the independence of the United States has as main effigy Raffaello. Italy makes a historical, artistic contribution, exceptional, in an exhibition in which pieces from private collections appear, contributions from the most important museums in the world and this makes it even more important and significant the fact that Raffaello is representing this magical moment of Italian culture and this special relationship that unites Italy to the United States»
Although he lived just 37 years, Raffaello achieved such a profound success as a painter, designer and architect to be considered, for centuries after his death, the summit of artistic perfection. The son of a painter and poet, Raffaello entered into contact with the main writers and thinkers of his time in Rome, showing a poetic sensibility that fascinated the contemporaries and later generations. By joining ambition and lyrism, he created works with great intellectual thickness and emotional depth, essential qualities in the complex political panorama of the Renaissance courts.
The exhibition will develop following a chronological trend, retracing the life and career of Raffaello, with thematic sections dedicated to the evolution of his ideas and his iconography. Recent scientific findings will also be integrated. Putting in relation the drawings with the paintings and works made in other media, the exhibition will illustrate the extraordinary versatility and creative process of Raffaello. The figurative compositions in his paintings, drawings, cartoons for tapestries and engravings reveal an unparalleled narrator, and the exhibition will pay particular attention to his representation of women: from the pioneering use of naked models to the sensitive interpretations of Our Lady with the Child.
The article Inaugurated the biggest ever exhibition on Raffaello, MET comes from IlNewyorkese.
