 | | |  |  |  |  | | OPENING SOON | December 5, 2025–April 5, 2026
The Met Fifth Avenue | Beloved in Nordic countries for her highly original style, Finnish painter Helene Schjerfbeck (1862–1946) is relatively unknown to the rest of the world. Overcoming immense personal struggles and working in a remote location for decades, she produced a powerful body of work through sheer force of will. This exhibition affirms her rightful place in the story of modern art.
Following Schjerfbeck's journey from art school in Paris to her final days in Sweden, the exhibition illustrates her shift from traditional and realistic subjects to a simplified, spare style. In the early 1900s, using her mother and neighbors as models, she painted abstractly, paring down her subjects in form and color and developing a bold, new language.
Seeing Silence: The Paintings of Helene Schjerfbeck is the first exhibition to showcase the work of the artist in a major United States museum. Featuring nearly 60 works—including generous loans from the Finnish National Gallery/Ateneum Art Museum, other Finnish museums, and private collections in Finland and Sweden—Seeing Silence illuminates Schjerfbeck as a valuable voice of modernism. | | Learn more → | | Exhibition Highlights |  | | Fanmania | | UPCOMING | December 11, 2025–May 12, 2026
The Met Fifth Avenue | | | | | | | | | See more exhibitions → | | Spend the Holidays at The Met |  | With iconic decorations celebrating Christmas and Hanukkah, free guided tours that bring our galleries to life, festive performances, seasonal treats, holiday-themed Date Night celebrations, and so much more, there's something for everyone to enjoy this winter at The Met.
Learn more → | For more information on the exhibitions, including sponsorship credits, visit Seeing Silence: The Paintings of Helene Schjerfbeck, Divine Egypt, Man Ray: When Objects Dream, Fanmania, Colorful Korea: The Lea R. Sneider Collection, Witnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson, Emily Sargent: Portrait of a Family, Chinese Painting and Calligraphy: Selections from the Collection, and Spectrum of Desire: Love, Sex, and Gender in the Middle Ages.
For a full list of education program funders, please visit metmuseum.org/educationfundingsupport.
Images: Helene Schjerfbeck (Finnish, 1862–1946). Self-Portrait (detail), 1912. Oil on canvas, 17 1/8 × 16 1/2 in. (43.5 × 42 cm). Finnish National Gallery Collection, Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki (A-2016-51). Photo: Finnish National Gallery / Yehia Eweis | Triad of Osiris, Horus, and Isis. From Egypt, probably Thebes, Karnak Temple. Third Intermediate Period, Dynasty 22, reign of Osorkon II (about 872–837 BCE). Gold inlaid with lapis lazuli. Acquired in 1872. Paris, Louvre Museum, Department of Egyptian Antiquities (E 6204). © 2025 GrandPalaisRmn (Louvre Museum). Photo: Mathieu Rabea | Man Ray (American, 1890–1976). Rayograph, 1922. Gelatin silver print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Bluff Collection, Promised Gift of John A. Pritzker. © Man Ray 2015 Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY / ADAGP, Paris 2025 | Henri-Gabriel Ibels (French, Paris 1867–1936 Paris). Circus Fan, ca. 1893–95. Lithograph on silk fan leaf. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1938 (38.91.98). | Patchwork wrapping cloth (jogakbo), Korea, 1980–90s. Stitched silk on wrapped canvas. 33 x 28 3/8 in. (83.8 x 72.1 cm). Gift of the children of Lea R. Sneider, 2024 (2024.301.15) | Emily Sargent, Sea with Boat & Figure, Pride's Crossing, 1923. Watercolor. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Anonymous Gift, at the request of members of the artist's family, 2021 | Jeffrey Gibson (a member of the Mississippi band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent, born 1972). The Animal That Therefore I Am: they teach us to be sensitive and to trust our instincts, issi / awi / deer (detail), 2025. Patinated bronze. Courtesy the artist | Aquamanile in the Form of Phyllis and Aristotle, Netherlandish, late 14th or early 15th century. Copper alloy, 12 ¾ x 7 x 15½ in. (32.5 x 17.9 x 39.3 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Robert Lehman Collection, 1975 (1975.1.1416) | | | | |
