The Metropolitan Museum

The Met is probably my favorite place to be in New York.  The old adage that it so big that you have to pick a destination  no longer holds true for me.   Rather, I revel in the opportunity to be able to wander from European medieval painting into Islamic decorative art to Cycladic statues, for example.  To see your notions about art constantly questioned and sometimes overturned is a delight.  One culture might venerate one kind of image, while another has a completely different sense of purpose.   For example, I recently saw a wonderful exhibition of Japanese screen painting of the Edo period.  Landscapes, traditional narratives, and contemplation of nature are often the subjects.

Then I wandered towards the European painting section, and the first thing I see is a room full of portraits of important people.  Why portraits?   (The answer, of course, as always, is that of Willie Sutton.  Because that's where the money was.)  Then you look at the carved statues in the Oceanic art wing.   They can scare you.  Why were they made?

Of course, sometimes I go with a specific destination in mind, but other times I want to be some kind of flâneur, wandering aimlessly and never knowing what I might see next.   And compared to the hordes that overwhelm  MOMA,  the Met is relatively uncrowded.  Especially if you ignore the high traffic areas like the French impressionists, etc.  Recently I have been in the room with the five Vermeer paintings and been the only one there.   And if you go to obscure places like the Lehman wing, there is no one there.

Recently I spent a lot of time looking at the Dutch still life paintings from the 17th century, which I usually ignore.  But then you take your time and look carefully, and they start to reveal their secrets.

There's something about being in a non-crowded room and not being in a hurry that puts me a receptive state.

In the next room, a Dutch painting of a cathedral interior, which I had glanced at before.

Then you realize there is a dog peeing in the church.  Was this normal in churches of that time. Or is there a message from the artist?  I have no clue.

I eventually ended up looking at Roman wall paintings.  They are very old!  Beautiful colors and the texture of the aged surfaces is fascinating.

 As I said before, the Met is my favorite place to be in New York.  The sheer diversity of artistic endeavors on display is inspiring, and the respect with which all kinds of art are displayed is equally inspiring.  While other museums do very trendy things to make themselves relevant; the Met simply presents its amazing treasure in an environment which facilitates the true enjoyment of art.  And combine that with a web site which allows access to both high resolution images of the art and information.  Bravo!