| | | |  |  |  |  | | The Met Cloisters Late Night: Night of Desire | Thursday, February 12, 6–9 pm
Museum-wide, The Met Cloisters
Follow your heart to The Met Cloisters! Celebrate Valentine's Day with a special after-hours event dedicated to medieval love and desire. Spend the evening with someone special and discover the passionate world of the Middle Ages.
💌 Get creative with hands-on activities—make valentines inspired by medieval manuscripts, draw a portrait of your date, or craft a wire ring to gift someone special.
💕 Stroll the galleries, enjoy intimate gallery chats with curators, meet the mischievous Greedy Peasant, and mingle with fellow romantics.
🎵 Listen to medieval love songs performed live by Alkemie.
🌹 Explore a fragrance experience created by Mythologist Studio, inspired by the scents of the Middle Ages.
Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Spectrum of Desire: Love, Sex, and Gender in the Middle Ages.
Fee: $50. Note: Space is limited; advance registration is required. Drink specials and light fare available for purchase. Activities are subject to change.
Buy tickets → |  | | Men in Love in the Romance of the Rose | Wednesday, February 18, 6–7 pm
Romanesque Hall, The Met Cloisters
One of the most widely read love poems of the Middle Ages, the Romance of the Rose narrates an erotic dream about a man's seduction of a woman and includes episodes about other forms of desire. Join us to hear medieval scholars Christopher T. Richards and Eliza Zingesser in conversation on the unexpected imagery inspired by this iconic work of courtly literature.
Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Spectrum of Desire: Love, Sex, and Gender in the Middle Ages.
Free, though advance registration is required. Note: Space is limited; first come, first served.
Register now → |  | | Spectrum of Desire: Love, Sex, and Gender in the Middle Ages | Through March 29, 2026
Fuentidueña Chapel, The Met Cloisters
Desire in the Middle Ages was multifaceted. It could be courtly or carnal, sacred or subversive, and expressed as a kind of longing, suffering, or joy. Medieval artists could be both deeply serious and comical in their evocations of these feelings. Drawing on decades of scholarship, Spectrum of Desire opens up new ways of seeing the past through stirring works of art that inspire us to think more expansively about people who lived in the Middle Ages, their relationships, and the artworks they produced.
Learn more → | |  | |  | | Impressions of the Imagination: New Medieval Beasts in Print | | NOW OPEN | Through March 3, 2026
Gallery 007, The Met Cloisters
Snarling, prancing, prowling, and peeking out from stone and thread, animals both real and fantastical fill medieval art with energy and imagination. As part of The Met Cloisters' commitment to serving neighbors in upper Manhattan, fifth-grade students from P.S. 48 P.O. Michael J. Buczek were invited to immerse themselves in this lively world of hybrid creatures and respond with beasts of their own invention.
Learn more → | | | | Accessibility at The Met
The Met is committed to accessibility for all. For information about accessibility, programs, and services for people with disabilities at both Met sites, visit metmuseum.org/access. To request an access accommodation for virtual programs or online resources, email [email protected], or call 212-650-2010. For information about accessibility on our website, see our Website Accessibility Statement. | For more information about the exhibitions, including sponsorship credits, see Spectrum of Desire: Love, Sex, and Gender in the Middle Ages and Impressions of the Imagination: New Medieval Beasts in Print.
Public programs at The Met Cloisters are made possible in part by The Helen Clay Frick Foundation.
For Education program funders, visit metmuseum.org/educationfundingsupport.
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Images: Late Night gif images by Don Pollard and Filip Wolak | Love embracing the beloved (detail), Roman de la Rose, MS M.503 fol. 14v. France, Paris, ca. 1340. The Morgan Library & Museum | 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) | Artist on Artworks image by Leah DeVun | Silent Book Club of Death image by Lauren Seeley | All other photos by Filip Wolak | | | |
