The Metropolitan Museum of Art is once again extending its galleries of 19th-century European art. Opened to the public in 1993, the present halls are in need of renovation and refurbishment after having attracted more than forty million visitors. Moreover, nine new exhibition rooms will be built adding an additional 3000 square meters for about 125 paintings newly acquired during the past fourteen years. The extension and renovation of the existing rooms - which are themselves only thirteen years old - represents but the most recent instance of that perpetual cycle of development and renewal which is so characteristic for the Metropolitan Museum.
These construction and renovation works have made possible the loan of a great number of paintings and sculptures from our collection of French art - the most comprehensive outside of France. Never before have so many of our favourite works left the Metropolitan Museum and I would dare suggest that such an extraordinary opportunity may not present itself again in the future.
Philippe de Montebello
Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
