Assistant Curator, European Paintings

About the Metropolitan Museum of Art The Met presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world for everyone to experience and enjoy. The Museum lives in two iconic sites in New York City—The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters. Millions of people also take part in The Met experience online. Since its founding in 1870, The Met has always aspired to be more than a treasury of rare and beautiful objects.

We are committed to fostering a collaborative and respectful work environment with a staff as diverse as the audiences we engage. Our staff members are art lovers who are passionate about working toward a common goal: creating the most dynamic and inspiring art museum in the world. At The Met, every staff member – from security officers to researchers to scientists and beyond – lives by our core values of respect, inclusivity, collaboration, excellence, and integrity.

Respect:
Engage one another with collegiality, empathy, and kindness, always. Inclusivity:
Ensure that all are and feel welcome and valued.

Collaboration:

Reach across boundaries to exchange ideas and work together toward our shared mission. Excellence:
Lead the cultural world in quality and expertise—and inspire curiosity and creativity. Integrity:
Hold ourselves to the highest moral standards, admit when we fall short, and then evolve.

As Assistant Curator, or Associate Curator with commensurate experience, you are a forward-looking art historian specializing in 19th-century art with a particular focus on paintings. In this role, the curator will be responsible for the research, display, study, growth, and care of this area of the European Paintings collection. The ideal candidate will be passionately interested in paintings; in shaping the department’s future;

in advancing the Museum’s mission of public engagement and outreach through gallery installations; and in organizing ambitious exhibitions built around this area of the collection. The curator will be integral to the exciting project of reenvisioning the presentation of the permanent collection. The Museum may recommend that a new hire at Assistant Level be awarded credit for time worked in the same or similar role with comparable responsibilities as outlined in the Regulations for Curatorial, Education, Library, Conservation, and Scientific Research employees.

An Associate level may also be considered with an additional 5 years’ experience.

August 14, 2026

• Commitment to scholarship in fields of specialization, and to communicating the results of that scholarship, both to a broad public and specialist communities;
• Curate gallery installations with the attendant tasks of research, label writing, working with paintings technicians, and participating in related digital platforms;
• Research, generate and produce scholarly publications on works in the collection under his/her/their curatorial responsibility, contribute to entries in The Met’s online collection database;
• Organize path-breaking exhibitions that help to redefine an artist, period, or work of art;
• Participate in the Museum’s public education and outreach programs;
• Develop and maintain good working relationships with donors, trustees, and colleagues from other institutions in the U.S. and abroad, as well as with the scholarly community, dealers and collectors;
• Actively cultivate potential sponsors and supporters, including departmental membership groups;
• Research, propose, and present works for acquisition;
• Respond to inquiries relating to the collection and assist the public and visiting scholars;
• work with scholars throughout the field to enrich and expand the collection’s narratives;
• Collaborate with colleagues throughout the Museum and the broader field of art history on related projects and programs;
• Maintain commitment to the field of art history by participating in conferences, scholarly publications, and other forums;
• Other related duties as assigned

• Ph.D in art history and a specialization in 19th-century paintings, with demonstrated knowledge and particular focus on…