Cash-Strapped Metropolitan Opera Might Sell Iconic Chagall Works
31Jan. 23, 2026
Facing a budget crunch, theMetropolitan Operain New York is considering selling off two massive murals by renowned Russian French painterMarc Chagallthat have graced its Grand Tier since 1966, when they were created. Measuring thirty-six by thirty feet apiece, the vibrantly hued works were commissioned for the building upon its construction and are visible to passersby through its large, patchwork-paned windows. TheNew York Timesreports that Sotheby’s has valued the canvases, respectively titledThe Sources of MusicandThe Triumph of Music, at a collective $55 million. The sale would be conducted under the condition that the buyer leave the paintings in place, with a plaque announcing the donation.
According to theTimes, the Met is weighing the sale after delays finalizing a deal with Saudi Arabia that would see the opera company perform in the Gulf nation three weeks each winter. The 2025 agreement—which had sparked criticism due to the country’s widely criticized human rights record, marred in part by the 2018 slaying of journalist Adnan Khashoggi—had been expected to bring in upward of $100 million. Although Peter Gelb, the General Manager of the Met, has expressed confidence that the deal will eventually go through, he told theTimes, “I understand the Saudis have had to recalibrate their budgets because of their own economic concerns.”
The Met, which has an annual budget of $330 million, has thus far drawn $120 million from its $217.6 million endowment in an attempt to stay afloat as it struggles, like cultural institutions nationwide, with such post-pandemic problems as a decline in donations, government cuts to the arts sector, and sagging attendance. In addition to the possible Chagall sale, the Met is attempting to make ends meet by renting the space to other productions, laying off staff, cutting salaries, and reducing the number of operas it produces annually. Other options under consideration include selling the naming rights to the theater.
“We are being as entrepreneurial as possible,” Gelb told the Times. “What is clear is that we have to come up with new business models.”