We headed to NYC recently to visit The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET). I had never been to the MET before and it’s one of the world’s largest and finest art museums. Slowly but surely I’m crossing off my list of visiting the top 10 art museums in the world.
1. Musee du Louvre, Paris, France
2. Vatican Museums, Vatican City, Rome, Italy (So close! I visited the St Peter’s Basilica, but this is next on the to-do list when we go to Rome)
3. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
4. J. Paul Getty Center, Los Angeles, California
5. Musee d’Orsay, Paris, France
6. Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy
7. Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
8. Tate Modern, London, England
9. Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain
10. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
The MET had so many exhibitions on view it would have taken days to see everything, but at least we spent a few hours surrounded by more than two million works of art spanning five thousand years of world culture, from prehistory to the present and from every part of the globe. Quite the inspirational trip! Here are a few of my favorites.
Left: “Moses; Abraham; David; Noah” painted by Lorenzo Monaco, an Italian painter who was active around 1385-90. Right: “The Immaculate Conception” by Guido Reni, another Italian painter who lived much later, from 1575 to 1645.
I fell in love with the colors in the above paintings. I’m drawn to art that makes me feel something. Viewing these make me happy and it’s very much the color combination and the vibrancy. Good energy.
These panel paintings date back to A.D. 190-210, during the roman period. Hello! Such beautiful work so long ago. It’s pretty special to stand in front of such old art. We are fortunate to have access to so many things that enrich us.
This painting, “Virgin and Child with Saints”was done by a Netherlandish painter about 1472. What is so interesting is that in the “early seventeenth century the paint layers on the figures of the Virgin and Child and Saint John the Baptist were scraped off and repainted with a representation of the Marriage of Henry VIII and Elizabeth of York. The later additions were subsequently removed, revealing the meticulous preparatory underdrawing in brush and pen for the original figures that is typical of Netherlandish practice,” according to the MET. Amazing. I can’t imagine scraping off paint first of all, but then scraping to reveal my sketch underneath? crazy.
To my surprise and joy, they also had several rooms decorated in French style. The bedroom, is an actual bedroom from the Palazzo Sagredo in Venice, Italy from about 1718.
Visiting the actual art museum buildings are almost as inspirational to me. Most of them ar gorgeous! The MET was founded in 1870 and the architecture is breathtaking.
The big screen in the left photo is an actual choir screen from the Cathedral of Valladolid, Spain. It was completed about 1763. The “Armors for Man and Horse” in the right photo date back to 1548 and were made in Germany by Kunz Lochner who also made the armors for the Holy Roman Emperor, the dukes of Saxony, and the king of Poland.
There are much more beautiful architecture then the ones I took above. I wanted to share these with you that I saw online.
{photo credit: left photo; right photo}
I will have to head back in the spring because the Museum just announced the exhibit “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty” is on view from May 4 to July 31 next year.
Have a great day!
e.
