Sackler family name removed from seven spaces at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Sackler family that founded and operated Stamford”™s embattled Purdue Pharma has made a joint announcement with the Metropolitan Museum of Art that the Sackler name is being removed from seven exhibition spaces including the ancient Egypt wing featuring the Temple of Dendur.

According to a New York Times report, the Met becomes the latest major art institution to distance itself from the Sacklers, whose role in generating the opioid crisis through its aggressive marketing of OxyContin has made the family a pariah within the cultural philanthropic realm where they reigned for years. The Met stopped accepting donations from the Sacklers in 2019 due to the controversy surrounding OxyContin.

“Our families have always strongly supported the Met, and we believe this to be in the best interest of the museum and the important mission that it serves,” said the descendants of Drs. Mortimer and Raymond Sackler, the company”™s co-founders, in a statement. “The earliest of these gifts were made almost 50 years ago, and now we are passing the torch to others who might wish to step forward to support the museum.”

Two spaces within the Met will continue to acknowledge the Sacklers”™ support of the institution: the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in the Asian wing and the Marietta Lutze Sackler Gallery in the Modern and contemporary wing. It is not clear why these spaces were spared the erasure of the Sackler name.

Photo of the Temple of Dendur by Tim Krause / Flickr Creative Commons