2020 Vision: Photographs, 1840s–1860s

In celebration of The Met's 150th anniversary in 2020, the Department of Photographs will highlight the important role of gifts in developing its collection. 

This will be the first of a two-part presentation that features recent and new gifts, many offered in honor of the sesquicentennial celebration and exhibited at The Met for the first time. This first part of the exhibition will focus on nineteenth-century photographs from the 1840s through the 1860s, all made in the three decades before the Museum's founding in 1870. 

The second part will move forward a century, bringing together works from the 1940s through the 1960s. Playing on the association of 2020 with perfect vision, the exhibition will present photography as a dynamic medium through which to view the world, while also honoring the far-sighted collectors and patrons who made this presentation possible.​

Photographs, 1840s–1860s: December 2, 2019–May 10, 2020
Photographs, 1940s–1960s: July 20, 2020–January 3, 2021

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website