Image: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
An upcoming exhibition at The Met Fifth Avenue is scheduled for October 22, 2026, through February 7, 2027, in Galleries 691–693.
The exhibition will bring together nearly 120 luminous watercolor drawings intended for commissions dating from the mid-1880s through the 1920s in the United States and internationally. The drawings present the first step in the artistic process for interiors and decorations created during America’s Gilded Age, including work for grand mansions, civic spaces, sacred buildings, and other structures. The period was the post–Civil War era that saw an unprecedented accumulation of wealth.
The exhibition will also bring together extraordinary stained-glass windows, mosaics, enamelwork, and examples of the studio’s iconic lamps in side-by-side displays with their original designs. The displays allow a rare view of the journey from artistic conception to finished product.
Virtually everything produced in Tiffany’s workshops was the result of a collaborative process, with the initial steps taking place in the studio where artists Tiffany hired—often émigrés and women—realized his vision.
Many of the drawings document works that have since been lost, damaged, or destroyed, while others showcase ideas for designs that were never realized. All of the featured drawings are from The Met collection and have never before been studied in depth. The exhibition also celebrates the decades-long conservation initiative that restored them to their full beauty.
