The phenomenon of transhistorism in modern exhibition practices is considered from its genesis in independent curatorial projects to its transformation into a method of construction of exhibitions. The article attempts to consider the transhistorical method in the structure of contemporary art discourse, through an appeal to the essay of the American researcher Claire Bishop. The author characterizes the rhetoric of transhistorical projects and their difference from those that mimic them. Transhistorical intentions are analyzed in the exhibition «After Raphael. 1520-2020», held in the State Hermitage Museum.