Last month in New York we spent the better part of a day at The Met… The Metropolitan Museum of Art at 1000 5th Avenue. This place defies description in words. Stu had told me that it would blow me away, and I was fully prepared to be wowed, but my expectation did not even come close to the reality of this incredible place. The scale of the building is something I had trouble wrapping my head around. With nearly one thousand rooms of art, ranging from Ancient Egyptian through to Modern and Contemporary and everything in-between, the Met Collection spans 5000 years of Art. It is simply mind-blowing.
The Met originally opened in 1870, in a different location on Fifth Avenue. The current building is more than 20 times the size of the original museum. A quarter of a mile long (400m) and with 2,000,000 square feet (190,000㎡) of floor space, our paltry five and a bit hours barely touched the sides. We made a very definite plan and we seriously motored around. I could easily have spent five days at The Met, and Stu and I have agreed to go back in the near future. There was so much to look at it was overwhelming. Both Mya and Abby were amazed at the volume of art and Mya said to me several times…”Is this place for real??” I actually asked Stu if he thought that Egypt, Greece and Rome still had any antiquities left, given the amount of sarcophagi, busts and glassware. There are a complete temple and tomb which have been relocated from Egypt and reconstructed within the museum.
After initially getting very disoriented and then completely lost, after wandering aimlessly through the Egyptian Wing, we asked for directions, as we needed some breakfast. We were directed to the American Wing, via the Medieval Wing. Walking through this space I was slightly confounded by the complete choir screen from inside a Spanish church from the 1760s. I was not expecting things on such a grand scale. Walking into the American Wing, the open space was enormous, the roof was almost entirely glass and the natural light was beautiful. One end of the room had the 1822 neo-classical marble facade of the United States Branch Bank of Wall Street. This building frontage was beautiful and enormous. The other end of the room, Louis Comfort Tiffany’s, (Tiffany Lamps) Art Nouveau loggia, or covered exterior facade, resplendent with lead light panelled doors. In-between the two buildings was a great number of statues, staircases and street lamps. We sat down for food, coffee and to plan our attack…..
Firstly we had to narrow down what we wanted to see, then in order of importance…. we started at the Japanese arms and armoury… A great collection of swords and full samurai karuta (armour). Walking through all the rooms of European knight’s armour and weaponry, was awesome. Full armour for horses and the most amazing helmets, and cod-pieces (which made me giggle… some of them were quite comical).
From there to 19th and early 20th century European art. Mya was super keen to see some Van Gough. This part of the gallery was particularly impressive. 30 odd rooms of paintings my all of the artists I had studied through high school and uni. And many paintings from each artist. There were many highlights. Being an ex ballet dancer, Degas has always been a favourite. Two rooms of paintings and another of his bronze statues were beautiful, and made me very nostalgic. Standing in a corridor Abby casually asked if that was The Thinker…. I almost said no, then realised it was. Rodin’s most famous work is much smaller than I had anticipated. Goya, Rubens, Seurat, Pissarro, Gauguin, Matisse, Klimt, Manet, Monet, Renoir…. the rooms went on and on. My head felt like it might explode.
There is something very magical about the work of Van Gough. Standing in front of any of his works, I am always amazed by the texture and thickness of the paint. Like it has been applied with a plaster trowel. But infinitely more delicately. I am always stirred with the thought that he died assuming his work was unappreciated and that he, himself, was talentless. So much beauty and mastery, his swirling paintings are probably some of my favourites, and his work always brings a tear to my eye. As if it conveys beauty and pain at the same time.
While we were visiting, fortuitously, there was a Jackson Pollock exhibition. As a kid, I would tease my Dad about his love for “Jack the Dripper”. Now, I am a big fan and much of his work that was exhibited was different from any I had seen. Early sketches and drawings and some early “drip” work.
On to the balcony of the Great Hall for a quick refreshing Cosmo and then straight back into it in the Greek and Roman Art rooms. Several pieces I had studied in great detail at university were on show and everything about this area was amazing. Even the tiling on the floor. The museum houses so many wonders, around 2 million, but the building itself is completely wondrous. Mya was particularly captivated here, and I was very happy she was appreciating what she was having the privilege of seeing, in real life. The glassware was particularly spectacular and being 1500 years old, you could swear it was modern and made recently, with modern technology.
I will go back to The Met, in fact I could probably live there for a month and still feel that I had not done the collection justice. Too much wonder, so much awe. Next time I will make a plan in advance, and do some more research before arriving. I will also factor in time for one of the most inviting bookshops I have ever been dragged through in my life, even if Stu has other ideas!!!!
Blossomkitty Travels 