John Ashbery's Collection Exhibition

Friends Who Came to See Me: Drawings from John Ashbery’s Collection, on view from May 1 through October 25, 2026, features selections from a 2019 gift to the Morgan Library & Museum of twenty-eight works on paper from the collection of the American poet John Ashbery (1927–2017), donated by his husband, David K. Kermani. Centered on this remarkable and deeply personal group of works, the exhibition offers an intimate portrait of one of the twentieth century’s most significant American poets through his engagement with the visual arts, illuminating the rich interplay between his poetry, friendships, and art criticism.