The Metropolitan Museum, arguably the most famous NY museum of art, known as The Met, features around 5,000 objects on view across its 17 curatorial departments. Yet, the math behind The Met’s entire collection of art is even more fascinating – the museum has over 1.5 million works in its art portfolio. It means that less than half of one percent of the museum’s property is on display at any given moment. So, who decides which art the world sees?

What’s in The Met’s Hidden Stockrooms?

While visitors see a tiny percentage of The Met’s art collection, the rest is hidden behind the galleries, stored in a vast, climate-controlled, and carefully cataloged shadow museum that most people will never see. From ancient Egyptian artifacts to Old Masters, from Islamic ceramics to medieval armor, these riches of The Met are accessible only to a handful of storage operators, researchers, and conservators.

The Arithmetic of Display at the Famous NY Museum of Art

Displaying The Met’s vast collection and increasing its visibility is physically challenging. Just think of it: the Egyptian Art department alone possesses over 26,000 art objects, and the belongings of the Arms and Armor department have exceeded 14,000 items.

Given that gallery space is finite, The Met’s curators continually face challenging choices for the large yet limited area of the museum. Art selection becomes increasingly hard because of the rising concerns about curator biases and the scrutiny of whose art matters, whose history is worth narrating, and which aesthetic traditions are legible for the mainstream Western audience.

Access as a Display Alternative

In line with the increasing pressure for fairness in art visibility, The Met has developed a novel strategy of access as an alternative to permanent display. The museum has opened many study rooms where scholars, students, and artists can request to view objects in storage by appointment. The famous NY Museum of Art has allocated its Thomas J. Watson Library and the Costume Institute’s study center for these purposes; other study rooms are available in different departments. Art access requires proof of appropriate credentials that casual visitors don’t have.

Another option for increasing visibility is the digitization of art. The Met’s Open Access program, launched in 2017, has a catalog of 375,000 images of art stored out of display, making access free without restrictions. Though a digital image can never replace a personal encounter with artwork, these efforts reflect The Met’s commitment to art accessibility.