The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens Si Lewen show on 1 October
Published on 09/27/2026 at 10:02 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens There Are No Words: Si Lewen's Parade in New York City on 1 October 2026. The exhibition presents all 63 drawings in the series at the Fifth Avenue museum, in Gallery 690.
Si Lewen's Parade opens at Gallery 690 on 1 October
The presentation runs from 1 October 2026 through 5 January 2027. It is the first public exhibition of the complete work since the museum acquired it in 2024.
The charcoal, pencil and ink drawings were made after the Second World War. Across the series, military pageantry gives way to conflict, devastation and mourning, creating a visual sequence about war, memory and its human consequences.
The museum has described the work as a cycle shaped by Si Lewen's experiences before and during the war. Born in Poland to Jewish parents and raised in Germany, the artist fled Nazi persecution in 1933 before later immigrating to the United States. During the war, he served in the US Army as one of the Ritchie Boys and was present at Buchenwald shortly after its liberation in 1945.
The exhibition dates and gallery location are set out in the museum's announcement. The same announcement identifies Maria Castro, a curator in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art, as the exhibition's curator.
The 63 drawings extend the museum's modern art programme
The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 and presents art spanning more than 5,000 years. Its collection includes modernist and contemporary works from across the world, alongside painting, sculpture, design, installation art and works on paper.
The exhibition connects a recent acquisition with the department's wider programme while modern and contemporary galleries are being reorganised for the future Oscar L. Tang and H. M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing. That wing is scheduled to open in 2030, so Gallery 690 provides a current setting for Lewen's work within the existing museum.
The sequence's movement from ordered parades to scenes of destruction gives the October opening a direct relationship with the museum's modern art holdings. Visitors will encounter a complete narrative cycle rather than a single drawing or isolated object, with the arrangement unfolding as they move around the gallery.
The museum's history and collection place the presentation within an institution founded in the nineteenth century and devoted to art across time and cultures.
Visiting The Metropolitan Museum of Art: what travellers from Western Europe should know
- There Are No Words: Si Lewen's Parade runs from 1 October 2026 through 5 January 2027 in Gallery 690 at the Fifth Avenue museum.
- The presentation is scheduled inside the museum's public galleries, and the exhibitions page states that exhibitions are free with museum admission.
- The museum is at 1000 Fifth Avenue in New York City, on Manhattan's Upper East Side beside Central Park. The 4, 5 or 6 train reaches 86th Street, followed by a westward walk to Fifth Avenue.
- The museum lists an accessible entrance at 81st Street and Fifth Avenue, with step-free routes and wheelchair access available inside.
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Frequently asked questions about The Metropolitan Museum of Art
When does Si Lewen's Parade take place at The Metropolitan Museum of Art?
The exhibition runs from 1 October 2026 through 5 January 2027 in Gallery 690.
What is The Metropolitan Museum of Art?
Founded in 1870, it presents art from around the world spanning more than 5,000 years.
Where is The Metropolitan Museum of Art and how do you get there?
It is at 1000 Fifth Avenue on Manhattan's Upper East Side. The 4, 5 or 6 train reaches 86th Street, followed by a walk to Fifth Avenue.
