I entered the Met a bit teary-eyed today, knowing this would be my last day in the museum. I said good-bye to Diana on my way up to the last of the Modern galleries and gave my favorite reading woman a nod as I moved past her. The second floor Modern art galleries are a…

I am overwhelmed with gratitude as I reflect on this project and my time here in New York City. I want to acknowledge that there is no way I could have done it without the support of my beloveds, and to be real, without the privilege and the means to pay for a month in…

The Lehman Collection occupies a triangular space on the ground floor, down the stairs from Medieval art, situated around a sunny courtyard. The Dutch Masters exhibition is contextualized by the effects of the Netherlands’ 80 year war with Spain, which ended in 1648 and resulted in the establishment of an independent Dutch Republic. The Catholic…

The Met offers only one gallery for Korean art, and I was fortunate to be the only visitor in it this morning. The introduction on the wall informs the visitor about the importance of the moon jar in Korean culture; however, there wasn’t a single one on display. I was able to find this one…

I was met at the members entrance today by half a dozen straggling climate activists who were protesting what they consider to be harsh indictments of their fellow activists who splashed paint on a case enclosing a Degas sculpture at the National Gallery in Washington DC in April. Apparently on June 24, a day I…

The Met has a vast collection of Impressionist art and so much Monet. I like Claude Monet, but if I’m being honest, I associate his Water Lilies with umbrellas and scarves – they have stopped being themselves and morphed into a decorative stereotype. I am grateful for my morning with a vast spectrum of his…

These galleries begin at the end of the French Revolution, a time of intense political and social reform, truly massive upheaval, which is reflected in the paintings here. There was, as there always is, a faction that clung to the ancient forms and “correct” paintings and sculptures. We humans do love the familiar, and in…

Alert readers will note that today’s date falls on a Wednesday, a day the Met is closed to the public. One of the great pleasures of my life is knowing so many incredibly talented people such as my friend, the writer, educator, and librarian Laura Winnick, who lives here in New York City. She let…

It is the Sunday of the July 4th holiday weekend, and the museum is an absolute madhouse. It seems like a good time for me to recommend a couple of hacks for you if you ever visit the Met in the high tourist season. The “Members Only” entrance at 81st street, just to the left…

Smoke has descended on New York City again, and I feared that the museum would be more crowded than ever with people staying indoors, but it really wasn’t so bad. To access these special exhibits, visitors scan a QR code and are given a wait time. There was none for Lagerfeld and only 20 minutes…

I wrapped up my time in the American Wing wandering through the Henry R. Luce Center for the Study of American Art, a vast, open storage area that anyone is free to explore, and is also a tremendous resource for anyone studying American art. It is magical. The objects and paintings are in various stages…

The American Wing is flanked by courtyards, one on the west side of the mezzanine level that features ceramics, and the other around both sides of the second floor, which contains more ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, and jewelry, each side offering an entrance into the vast American painting and sculpture galleries.  Let’s begin with ceramics,…

The newly redesigned American Wing is still partly under refurbishment, so will I miss some important exhibits such as Native American art. Plenty to see, though – it will take me three visits to see it all.  Today I spent the bulk of my time in reconstructed rooms, an echo of Days 5 and 6…

New York was in full throttle today, so I thought I’d share some of what is happening. I spent last night in Darien, Conn. for a family get together (Happy Anniversary! Happy Birthdays!) The train rolled into the station this morning, packed to the gills with young folks decked out and heading to the city…

Every visitor to the Met has to walk through Ancient Byzantium to get to most of the other galleries, but very few people were observed to linger there. My first impression of the art was that it met my stereotype of medieval times: heavy metals and practical war-related objects, including horse bits and ornaments for…

This morning dropped me back into stunning craftsmanship, influencers, and lots and lots of gilded objects as I moved across the hall from the Renaissance in Italy to that in France. This period featured lead-glazed earthenware depicting watery, creature-filled pond scenes. The artists made casts from actual animal specimens, giving the pottery an otherworldly yet…

Readers who know me well know how much I like purging myself of belongings. I’m not a collector and I keep household items forever. Like the cheap glass plates we bought when we were married in 1985. They are perfect. Why replace them? My house is neat and clean, but does displays objects of beauty…

Juan de Pareja “History must restore what slavery took away.” – Arturo Schomburg, “The Negro Digs Up His Past” (1925) While I scheduled my days at the Met somewhat randomly based on the number of galleries in each area and other practical considerations, it seemed more than fitting to end up spending time with Afro-Hispanic…

As with the Egyptians, the Greeks also bump into the Romans when the timeline crosses into the common era. Also, as with the Egyptians, much of the art, at least in the thousands of years covered in the Met, is associated with funeral rites. On my way through a dozen galleries leading to the classical…

“The history of Africa will remain suspended in air and cannot be written correctly until African historians connect it with the history of Egypt.” – Cheikh Anta Diop Death rituals and mummies continued as I made my way from the 18th dynasty into the common era and the Romans. When I got to the museum…

Many, many groups of schoolchildren are weaving their way through the dimly lit galleries of ancient Egypt. I tag along behind one as they squeeze their way into the narrow spaces in the Mastaba Tomb of Perneb, phones aloft, filming over their own four-foot tall heads as they meander through, ducks in a line. They…