The Met Explores 4,000 Years of Musical Instruments as Bodies

Why do so many musical instruments across cultures and centuries look like us?

That's the question driving "Musical Bodies," a captivating new exhibition at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. The show features 130 works spanning 4,000 years, revealing how humans have poured themselves into the tools they use to make music.

The connection appears everywhere. Ancient Egyptian clappers from the Middle Kingdom were carved from hippopotamus ivory in the shape of human arms and hands. A 19th-century santal fiddle from eastern India stands like a smiling person with hands on hips.

Even modern instruments continue the tradition. Prince's purple Love Symbol guitar merges male and female symbols into one recognizable form. Lady Gaga's circular PianoArc keyboard has entertained thousands at her concerts.

Curator Bradley Strauchen-Scherer initially asked himself a simple question about why instruments are shaped like bodies. His search for answers became a journey through human history itself.

"We find ourselves represented in these instruments because, for much of our history, music has been central to who we are and what we do," Strauchen-Scherer explains. The exhibition includes instruments from every corner of the globe, from the Japanese shakuhachi flute to the Aztec ehecachichtli "death whistle."

Why This Inspires

Music often gets labeled as specialist or elitist, but this exhibition proves otherwise. Strauchen-Scherer believes music-making is written into our DNA, absolutely fundamental to human survival across all cultures and eras.

The show demonstrates how instruments served as more than sound-makers. They functioned as extensions of our bodies, expressions of identity, and tools for romance, ritual, and celebration.

Some experts believe the world's oldest musical instrument is a 60,000-year-old Neanderthal flute carved from a bear's thighbone. If that's true, humans have been making music nearly as long as we've walked the earth.

The exhibition runs through September 27, 2026, giving visitors plenty of time to experience this multisensory celebration of humanity's musical soul.