Madonna delivers the night’s standout moment with living Carrington tableau at the Met Gala

Madonna delivered the night’s standout moment at this year’s Met Gala, turning the “Fashion is Art” brief into a full-scale performance that, in this critic’s view, eclipsed the field. The 67-year-old singer arrived draped in black and initially looked somber in early photos, but wider shots revealed a carefully orchestrated tableau that unfolded on the museum steps.

An avid art collector, Madonna built her look as a precise homage to British-Mexican surrealist Leonora Carrington’s The Temptation of Saint Anthony (1945). Every detail echoed the painting: Madonna as the woman in black, a ship perched as a hat, a golden horn, and an immense black veil held aloft at six points by women in flowing dresses.

Side-by-side comparisons circulated on social media underscored the striking fidelity to the original work. She heightened the spectacle with a custom soundtrack played only for her entrance — a dramatic orchestral swell punctuated by the squawk of seagulls — underscoring the sense of a living artwork temporarily installed on the Met steps.

The Met Gala’s “Fashion is Art” dress code prompted broad interpretations elsewhere. Actors Nicholas Hoult and Luke Evans leaned into Tom of Finland-inspired leather looks; Sarah Paulson said she wore a $1 bill on her face as a protest against the 1%. Internet favorite Hudson Williams chose a Black Swan-inspired ensemble.

Madonna’s elaborate staging arrived as she promotes a soon-to-be-released album, Confessions on a Dancefloor II, and on the heels of a new duet with Sabrina Carpenter. For longtime fans, the high-drama silhouette and inky palette also nodded to her late-1990s “Frozen” and Ray of Light era — a return to the goth-inflected mood that helped define one of her most celebrated artistic phases.