A day at the Met

For some reason, Thursday seems like the day to go to the Metropolitan Art Museum, so that is what we did today. We got there about 10:30. They are checking bags and did not like the fact that we had brought a picnic lunch with us! So, we hid it in the bushes outside and discovered we could avoid the crowds by going in the group entrance of the lower patio!

We spent our time going through three exhibits. We started with the John Singer Sargent special exhibit on the second floor. What a beautiful portrait painter he is! His subjects look so real and were so interesting to read about. It made all the other portrait paintings that we looked at seem like child’s play.

We also spent time looking at the impressionist galleries. What an extensive collection, so many paintings gathered together by the same artist. There was a whole room of Matisse, and half rooms of Gauguin, Van Gogh, Manet & Monet, etc. It was fascinating to see so many paintings by the same artist all in one room.

The last collection we saw was another special exhibition called “China Through the Looking Glass.” It was very extensive, on three floors. They were trying to show how Chinese objects had influenced American fashion. Most of it involved clothing and beautifully decorated fabrics. They showed the American costume next to the Chinese object that had inspired it. It was thought provoking and beautiful. Go see it if you can.

When we left the museum we took the bus down Fifth Avenue and stopped at the Arsenal building just outside the Zoo in Central Park. It is a landmark building, having been there from 1847, before the Park was built. The building looks like a castle. The banister railings are shaped like rifles! Now it is used as office space for Park headquarters and there is a small exhibit area on the third floor. I enjoyed looking at the pictures depicting the history of some of New York’s parks. The walls of the main floor are covered by murals painted by WPA workers in the 1930's