The Story Behind the 2026 Met Gala’s Dazzling Full Moon Centerpiece

When guests of the Met Gala 2026 — including the night’s co-chairs, Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour — step off the stone-inspired carpet and into the Metropolitan Museum of Art tonight, they’ll be greeted by a luminous moon.

For the centerpiece installation in the Great Hall, Vogue and event design team Raúl Àvila and Derek McLane created a gigantic (about 26 feet in diameter) full moon. Floating above what is usually an information desk for museumgoers, the installation is a balloon with the lunar image projected from the balcony level.

The piece creates a gently glowing, romantic atmosphere that segues perfectly with an evening informed by the storied garden design of Northern Italy. (Àvila shares that the idea for the moon came from Baz Luhrmann, one of the creative forces behind the design of the gala.)

One important aspect of the layout and flow of the evening is different this year: Guests with elaborate or restrictive trains, à la Tyla’s sand sculpture look in 2024, will be happy to discover that, instead of ascending the interior stairs into the galleries, they will remain on the first floor to explore the Costume Institute’s new Condé M. Nast Galleries, with a trompe l’oeil garden backdrop helping to set the scene.

Below the moon are cypress trees, and near the receiving line—where the co-chairs of the event greet the guests—are terracotta pots full of lavender (another nod to the springtime garden concept). It all fosters the feeling of slipping away into an ethereal secret garden.

In a room full of stars, it’s safe to say that all eyes will be on the moon. “It’s one of the biggest I’ve ever done,” Àvila says.

This article was originally published on Vogue.com.