Collection

Our collection currently contains more than 100,000 works of art and design dating from ancient times to today. 2,134 of these objects are on view in the museum now. 85,750 of them are available online. There are 2,338 recent acquisitions. All of our collection records are living documents. These records are frequently revised and enhanced.

Enter your search terms below or begin with a random object.

showing 20 works out of 8654

Realistically rendered etching of a cast of characters inhabiting an 18th-century mental institution. The room is populated with institutionalized men, while two upper-class women shield their eyes with fans.

William Hogarth

Plate 8 (Tom Rakewell Ends Up in the Bethlehem Hospital Madhouse)

Unknown Maker, Chinese

Bencharong Bowl

A decorative drawing depicting the winged allegorical figures of Love, Friendship, and Time. The figures, architectural ruins, and landscape reference ancient Greece.

Jean-Jacques Karpff, called Casimir

L’amour et l’amitié (Love and Friendship; design for printed toile fabric)

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo

Country Dance

Expressive and humorous self-portrait of Sue McNally scowling in a tank top. She is outlined in hot pink, and is framed by brushy marks in black and white.

Sue McNally

Tank Top

Monochromatic self-portrait of Sue McNally resting her cheek on her fist. The left background of the sheet is blank white, while on the right ink fades from black to grey.

Sue McNally

Untitled

A drawing of a male figure engulfed in surging water or flames. His right hand extends out of the surge, and his mournful expression is barely visible in the tumult.

Steve Mendelson

#6

An inky black drawing of a deer with enormous antlers, which frame and mirror a crescent moon. Beneath the antlers and behind the deer, dramatic lightning illuminates the scene.

Steve Mendelson

#5

A muted painting of Saint Paul standing on an alter with his arms extended wide open in a moment of exaltation, dramatized by fine lines of black ink and watercolor.

William Blake

St. Paul Preaching at Athens

Michael Platt

Untitled

An ink and wash drawing of a hooded monk exiting a long dark corridor. The hall is pierced by a stream of light let in through the open door.

François-Marius Granet

A Friar in the Doorway of a Convent

Unknown Maker, Egyptian

Page from a Qur'an

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo

The Birthday Party

A watercolor and ink painting of a white-turbaned bearded man riding a dappled blue horse. Surrounding him are archers, riflemen and other riders. Spectators peek behind hills above.

Ibrāhīm Mahmūd 'Abd al-Bāqī

Sultan Süleyman Hunting, ottoman

Annu Palakunnathu Matthew

Daughter/Step Daughter

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Guercino

A Young Man with an Owl on a Stick

Two small birds perched among large red and white peony blossoms and broad blue-green leaves with a line of vertical calligraphy against a faded blue background.

Utagawa Kunisada II 二代歌川国貞

Herbaceous Peonies and Great Tits, Edo Period

A brown bird feeding chicks in a woven nest among clusters of purple flowers, tall grass, and red berries against a faded pink and blue sky. Small calligraphy panels surround.

Utagawa Sadahide 歌川貞秀

Reed Warblers Iris and Indian Strawberries (杜菖花よしきり蛇苺 Kakitsubata yoshikiri hebiichigo), Edo Period

Utagawa Sadafusa

Chrysanthemums (Kiku), Edo Period

Large peony blossoms in red and white framed by foliage against a yellow background, accented by calligraphy in the lower-right edge.

Utagawa Sadahide 歌川貞秀

Peonies, Edo Period