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Man Ray in the Mirror

The preview of the Met’s Man Ray show on Monday also marked a major promised gift of dada and surrealist works to the museum. Like the Lauder gift of cubist art, this one from John Pritzker will give the museum a much-needed core collection.

Man Ray Metropolitan Museum of Art
The American artist had tried to distinguish his namesake black-and-white photograms from their 19th century forebears, and the Met’s exhibition space was designed in a striking manner to highlight them and provide a space for serendipitous exploration. Photo: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFPGetty Images/"Man Ray: When Objects Dream" exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
Marion Maneker
September 9, 2025

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Like with most museum openings, the preview of Man Ray: When Objects Dream at the Met on Monday was a subdued affair. But the Met had a lot to celebrate. The exhibition, which opens September 14, explores the crucial period of the artist’s development from 1915 to 1929 through his “invention” of the rayograph, a form of photogram. The preview also coincided with the Met’s announcement of a major promised gift of 188 dadaist and surrealist works from trustee John Pritzker—which includes works by Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Kurt Schwitters, and Jean Arp, in addition to Man Ray—and comes with additional money from the John Pritzker Family Fund to create a multidisciplinary research program focused on dadaist and surrealist art.