The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present "There Are No Words: Si Lewen's Parade," an exhibition featuring the complete cycle of 63 drawings by Polish-born artist Si Lewen, opening October 1, 2026. This powerful meditation on war, memory, and the human condition, recently acquired by The Met in 2024, will be displayed for the first time since its acquisition.
Created around 1950, "The Parade" is deeply informed by Lewen's extraordinary life. Born to Jewish parents in Poland and raised in Germany, Lewen fled Nazi persecution with his family in 1933, eventually immigrating to the United States. During World War II, he served as one of the Ritchie Boys in the U.S. Army, witnessing action in Normandy and being present at Buchenwald concentration camp shortly after its liberation in 1945.
Max Hollein, The Met's Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer, said, "The Parade is a remarkable achievement of 20th-century art that is at once deeply personal and profoundly charged. It is a major acquisition for The Met, ensuring that Si Lewen's uniquely moving, enormously relevant, and extraordinarily engaging work can reach a wider public and speak with renewed urgency, especially during these challenging times."
The exhibition's title reflects Lewen's own description of his wordless narrative, where "just the picture itself is the narrative," and his conviction that the horrors of war ultimately defy language. Across 63 charcoal, pencil, and ink drawings, the work traces a visual journey from military pageantry to conflict, devastation, and mourning, revealing the cyclical nature of violence.
Maria Castro, The Met's Jacques and Natasha Gelman Associate Curator, noted, "As sparse compositions focused on small groups of figures give way to densely packed, chaotic darker scenes, Lewen’s visual narrative draws viewers into a rhythmic and chilling march across frames. The work’s emotional power lies in its ability to speak across generations through the cumulative force of its images." The exhibition will run through January 5, 2027, at The Met Fifth Avenue, Gallery 690.