The Metropolitan Museum of Art is preparing to unveil a landmark exhibition dedicated to one of the Renaissance’s greatest masters. Raphael: Sublime Poetry will bring together more than 200 works, offering the first-ever comprehensive presentation of the artist in the United States. Opening on March 29, 2026, at the Met’s Fifth Avenue location, the exhibition will run through June 28, 2026.
Raphael—celebrated for iconic works such as The Sistine Madonna—produced over 500 pieces during his prolific but tragically short life. While many are scattered across major collections worldwide, this exhibition marks an unprecedented gathering, uniting some of his most renowned achievements with rarely seen works.
Curated by Carmen Bambach, from the Met’s Department of Drawings and Prints, the exhibition has been seven years in the making. “It is a thrilling opportunity to engage with Raphael’s artistic personality through the visual power, intellectual depth, and tenderness of his imagery,” she notes.
Structured chronologically, Raphael: Sublime Poetry will trace the artist’s journey from his early beginnings in Urbino to his rise in Florence—where he competed with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo—and finally to his role at the papal court in Rome, overseeing ambitious projects such as the celebrated Raphael Rooms in the Vatican.
Through preparatory sketches, large-scale paintings, tapestries, and decorative objects, visitors will experience the breadth and harmony of Raphael’s vision, enriched by the historical and cultural contexts that shaped his work.
“Visitors will have an exceptionally rare opportunity to experience the breathtaking range of Raphael’s creative genius through some of the artist’s most iconic and seldom-loaned works from around the globe—many never before shown together,” said the Met’s director, Max Hollein.
