About

Presented alongside the exhibition ‘European Masterpieces from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York’ (12 Jun – 17 Oct 2021), the cinema program ‘The Met: The Masters and the Modern Day’ is a playful look at a major international art institution, known for its extensive European painting collections and its cultural daring.

This program offers cinematic insights into the lives and times of the masters behind the Masterpieces and the ways their works continue to inspire and fascinate. It features acclaimed biographical dramas – such as Mr Turner 2014, depicting the life of British painter JMW Turner, and At Eternity’s Gate 2018, featuring Willem Dafoe’s Oscar-nominated performance as Vincent Van Gogh – alongside recent documentaries exploring the work of some of the key artists featured in the exhibition.

From the recent ambitious art and food project documented in Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles 2020 to the intriguing behind-the-scenes preparations for The Met Gala in Andrew Rossi’s The First Monday in May 2016, the program also looks at the museum itself, touching on The Met’s modern persona as a touchstone for glamour and sophistication. Beyond documentary portraits, ‘The Met: The Masters and the Modern Day’ offers a peek into The Met’s appearances on screen as a location in feature films such as When Harry Met Sally 1989, The Thomas Crown Affair 1999 and Ocean's 8 2018.