The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens Designing the Gilded Age: Drawings from the Studios of Louis C. Tiffany on Thursday, October 22, 2026, at The Met Fifth Avenue. The exhibition fills Galleries 691 to 693 with nearly 120 design drawings from the Met's own collection, shown alongside a select group of finished stained-glass windows, lamps, mosaics and other objects. It runs through February 7, 2027, and is included with museum admission.

The Met describes it as the first major exhibition dedicated to the design drawings behind Tiffany's work. The drawings range from quick working sketches to finished watercolor presentation pieces, and they show the first stage of commissions for mansions, churches, theaters, civic buildings and other spaces, mostly in the United States but also in Canada, Mexico, Cuba and Switzerland.

From Paper to Glass

The idea at the center of the show is the path from a design on paper to a finished object. Where possible, the Met places a drawing next to the window, lamp or mosaic that came out of it, so visitors can compare the plan with the result.

One pairing came together through a loan from the Chrysler Museum of Art. The Chrysler's large stained-glass window, Woman in a Pergola with Wisteria, made in 1911, is shown with the wisteria transoms originally designed to go with it. The transoms were recently found in a private home in Arizona, and the Met says this is the first time the full ensemble has been shown together in at least half a century.

Many of the other drawings record work that no longer exists in its original form. Some designs were lost, damaged or destroyed over the past century, and others were never built at all, so for those projects the drawing is the main surviving record.

The Designers Behind the Name

Nearly everything that left Tiffany's workshops was made by a team, and the exhibition names several of the designers who did much of that work. Among them are Frederick Wilson, who trained in Britain, and Jacob Holzer, who was born in Switzerland, along with Agnes Northrop, Clara Driscoll and Julia Munson. The Met notes that many of the artists Tiffany hired were immigrants and women whose contributions often went uncredited at the time.

The galleries are arranged by theme: designs for homes, designs for churches and other religious settings, public and commercial commissions, and the studio's work in lighting, including its lamps.

Decades of Conservation

The drawings are fragile works on paper, and the show also marks a conservation effort at the Met that has gone on for decades. According to the museum, these drawings had not been studied in depth before this project. Wall texts and digital features in the galleries explain what conservators and researchers found as they restored the sheets.

The exhibition was organized by Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, the Met's curator of American decorative arts, with Barbara Veith, a research associate in the American Wing. The Met says its holdings make up the largest collection of Tiffany design drawings anywhere. A fully illustrated catalog published by the Met accompanies the show.

Related Programs

Several programs tie into the exhibition this fall. On Tuesday, October 27, at 2 p.m., the Met hosts a Spanish-language talk on the creative process of Tiffany Studios, from drawings to finished works, free with museum admission. On Thursday, November 5, at 3 p.m., the curator and a conservator give a talk on the exhibition, also free with admission. A drop-in drawing session focused on Tiffany windows takes place on Friday, November 6, at 6 p.m., and a Teen Studio for ages 12 to 18 on turning drawings into stained glass is set for Saturday, November 14, at 2 p.m.

Met members can also see the exhibition from 9 to 10 a.m. on select Sunday mornings, starting October 25, before the museum opens to the public.

Planning a Visit

The Met Fifth Avenue is at 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street. The museum is open Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. It is closed on Wednesdays. New York State residents pay what they wish for admission, with a one-cent minimum, and proof of residency such as a driver's license, IDNYC or a New York library card. General admission for adults is $30, and children 12 and under are free. Every ticket includes all exhibitions.

By subway, take the 4, 5 or 6 train to 86th Street and walk three blocks west to Fifth Avenue. The M1, M2, M3 and M4 buses also stop nearby. Step-free entrances are at 81st Street and Fifth Avenue and through the parking garage at 80th Street.

Sources