The Met’s Tiffany Exhibition 2026: What to Look for in the Drawings

KEYWORD_WORLD · Culture · Checked 19 October 2026 (KST)

The Met’s Tiffany exhibition is scheduled to open on October 22, 2026. Start by comparing a drawing’s outlines, proposed materials and named makers with the object it was meant to become. That approach helps you see choices and teamwork behind a familiar style.

Designing the Gilded Age: Drawings from the Studios of Louis C. Tiffany is listed for October 22, 2026–February 7, 2027, at The Met Fifth Avenue in New York, Galleries 691–693. At this check it is still an upcoming exhibition.

The museum’s July 28 announcement explains that drawings will be shown alongside selected finished windows, lamps and other objects. It also draws attention to the studio’s designers, including Agnes Northrop, Clara Driscoll and Julia Munson. The Gilded Age here means the period of rapid growth and great wealth in America in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

In this article
A simple looking method · Two works to open online · Read the maker credits · Plan your next step

Start with one detail and follow its changes

The exhibition’s official overview describes drawings for both completed works and ideas that were never made. A design can therefore help explain an object, record something lost or preserve a proposal. Check which role the label gives it.

Our suggested method: choose one detail—a flower, a curve or a border. Find its outline first, then compare its colour, placement and material. You can use this method with an online collection image before deciding whether to visit.

Look at	Ask yourself
Outline	Where does the shape begin and end? Does it repeat or change?
Colour	Which parts are suggested by paint? What would you need to inspect in the intended material?
Alternatives	Does the sheet offer more than one possible design? Does the record say which was used?
Credit	Who drew the design, and who is named as its maker?

A working drawing is a drawing used to develop or make something. Its notes, outlines or alternatives may be as useful as its most polished passages. Let the object record guide your conclusions about how a particular sheet was used.

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Try the method with two online collection records

The records below are available online now. Both were marked “Not on view” when checked. Use them as preparation examples; their inclusion here does not promise that either drawing will be in the October exhibition.

1. Compare the centre and border. The Met’s 1897 design for a Four Seasons window names Louis C. Tiffany and Agnes F. Northrop. The museum explains that Tiffany designed the central figures, while Northrop made the floral border; both signed the drawing. Its twelve flower panels stand for the months of the year.

Try tracing the edge of one flower panel, then look back at the central figures. Our question for the viewer: how does a border help organise a large design? The record gives evidence of two people’s contributions, so keep both names in your notes.

2. Compare two alternatives before imagining a finished lamp. In Working drawing for a lampshade, Northrop proposed two versions of pink Sweet William flowers. The museum identifies the intended material as stencilled silk: a pattern applied through cut-out shapes onto fabric. It dates the sheet broadly to 1892–1932.

This is a useful material check. A drawing connected with a celebrated glass studio can be a design for fabric. The museum says one version was likely to be chosen, but it does not establish here which one became a finished shade. In your notes, separate the two visible options from that uncertainty.

Read “artist,” “designer” and “maker” as separate clues

Collection records can name several roles for one work. Read the full list before shortening it to a single familiar surname. In the lampshade record, Northrop is identified as designer, while the maker fields name Tiffany firms. The Four Seasons record lists both artists.

The exhibition’s announced focus on collaboration gives that small habit a wider purpose: it asks visitors to notice the people who helped produce the studio’s work. Our reading is that a useful museum note should record the design decision and the person credited for it.

For example, write “Northrop designed the floral border” when that is what the museum says. If a record gives a broad date or uses a cautious phrase such as “likely,” keep that limit. A clear note can include an unanswered question.

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Choose an online look or a later gallery visit

1. Looking from home? Open the two collection records above. Note the material, credited people and one design choice. Those pages offer a useful starting point without a New York trip.
2. Planning a visit? Confirm the exhibition’s opening date and location on its official page, then check The Met’s current admission and hours. The exhibition is included with Museum admission; that wording does not mean general entry is free for everyone.
3. Comparing a drawing with an object? Confirm that the label links that particular pair. A familiar pattern or similar colour alone does not prove they belong together.

Below is the museum’s own exhibition page, with its current dates and details. Its thumbnail is the official exhibition graphic.

The Met · Official exhibition · Current visitor detailsDesigning the Gilded AgeCheck the dates, galleries and museum updates before making plans.Open the official exhibition page →

Thumbnail: The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition graphic, featuring Tiffany Studios’ design for the First Presbyterian Church interior, Poughkeepsie, 1906–08 (detail). Full artwork credit is on the linked page.

When you look at a design drawing, what catches your eye first: a colour choice, a changed outline or the maker’s name? Share your thoughts in the comments, or send this article to someone who enjoys looking closely at art.

Sources and dates: The Met’s exhibition page, July 28, 2026 press announcement, two collection records and visit page are linked above. Checked 19 October 2026 (KST), while New York was still on 18 October. Exhibition dates refer to New York local dates. This is an advance explainer based on official information; the looking method and viewer questions are KEYWORD_WORLD’s editorial suggestions.