The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) in New York is undertaking a significant transformation, shifting its focus to African art and culture to provide a more diverse and less Eurocentric perspective. The Met, one of the most prestigious museums in the world, aims to attract a wider audience, particularly African American and diaspora visitors, through this initiative. By highlighting Africa’s 3,000 years of cultural history, the museum is making strides toward inclusivity and expanding its narrative beyond Western art.
In an interview with AFP, Max Hollein, the Met’s CEO and executive director, emphasized the importance of offering a more balanced view of global art. “We want to offer our visitors a less Western-centered view of the world,” Hollein explained. This shift aligns with the museum’s broader mission to represent diverse cultures and histories, and it comes at a time when cultural institutions across the globe are reevaluating their collections and perspectives.
A Renewed Focus on African Art
At the heart of this shift is the reopening of the Met’s Michael C. Rockefeller wing in the spring of 2025. The wing, which houses the museum’s collection of African art, as well as works from the South Pacific and early Americas, will undergo extensive renovations costing tens of millions of dollars. The revamped galleries will showcase 4,000 African works produced by over 200 cultures across nearly 40 sub-Saharan African countries.
The renovation and reimagining of the Rockefeller wing are intended to create a “completely new architecture and scenography” for displaying African art, according to Hollein. As the first European to lead the Met since its establishment in 1870, Hollein is committed to bringing fresh perspectives to the museum’s curation and programming. His leadership comes at a time when the museum is recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a sharp decline in visitorship. Last year, the museum drew 5.4 million visitors, a 10 percent increase from pre-pandemic numbers in 2019.
While the Rockefeller wing, which originally opened in 1982, marked a shift toward a more inclusive representation of global cultures, the 2025 reopening is set to be another milestone in the Met’s journey. Hollein emphasized the museum’s goal of moving beyond a Western or Eurocentric perspective, noting that this shift is not only about expanding the collection but also about reshaping the way art from different cultures is understood and appreciated.
Collaborations with African Institutions
As part of its efforts to better represent African art and history, the Met has been forging partnerships with African institutions. In 2023, the museum signed an agreement with Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments to assist in the digitization and cataloging of its collections. This collaboration is part of a broader effort to work with African counterparts to preserve and promote the continent’s cultural heritage.
The Met has already made significant strides in this area. In 2020, the museum hosted a landmark exhibition on the arts of the Sahelian empires of the Middle Ages, focusing on the empires of Ghana, Mali, Songhai, and Segu. More recently, it concluded a smaller exhibition that explored 1,000 years of Byzantine influence on the art of Christian communities in Egypt, Tunisia, Ethiopia, and Sudan.
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Hollein stressed the need for museums to go beyond studying African art solely through its influence on European modernism. “It’s time to stop just looking at these objects because they’ve influenced European modernism so much,” he said, adding that the same principle applies to other non-Western art, such as Maori sculptures, which should not be viewed only through the lens of how they fascinated early 20th-century French artists.
A Personal Connection to African Art
To deepen his understanding of African art, Hollein traveled to South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania in March 2023. During his visit, he met with local museum curators, art historians, and contemporary artists, gaining insight into the cultural and historical contexts of the works the Met plans to showcase. He also visited significant archaeological sites, such as Great Zimbabwe, the ruins of a medieval city, and Kilwa Kisiwani, a medieval city off the coast of Tanzania recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Videos and updated information about these sites will be incorporated into the Met’s new Rockefeller wing.
Appealing to a Diverse Public
The Met’s focus on African art is part of a broader effort to appeal to the multicultural population of New York City, particularly its African American and Caribbean communities. Hollein emphasized that the museum’s collection of African art is not just a representation of the continent but also a reflection of the cultural heritage of African Americans in the United States. “It’s the art of Africa, but it is basically also the cultural heritage of African Americans in the United States,” he said.
With this shift, the Met hopes to attract a younger and more diverse audience, ensuring that its vast collection resonates with the city’s demographic and reflects the broader global art narrative. By moving away from a solely Western-centric view, the museum aims to foster a deeper appreciation for the richness and diversity of African art, history, and culture, ensuring that all visitors can see themselves reflected in the works on display.
