The Met.

Hi Everyone,

In this post, I will share with you my experience 

at the Metropolitan Museum. 

When I first enter the building, it was really 

 packed and kind of hot. I wasn't too sure where to start so I decided to explore floor by floor. I started with the ancient Egypt because I am fascinated by that culture and it's mysteries. I am mostly attracted by the mommies because it is a bit mind blowing to think that there are real people remains. After visiting the Egypt part of the museum, I moved on to the Ancient Greece. The similarities I found between Egypt and Greece was the work of the stone. A lot of Egyptian and Greek sculptures are made of rock, granite or marble stone.

Following that, I visited the Islands and African galleries. Oceania, Melanesia, Polynesia... Their cultures shared a love for work of the wood. Wooden sculptures, masks, paints as well as ceremonial textiles and banners.  It is interesting to witness that different peoples and cultures that never met one another share so many similarities and beliefs. All of them believed in some kind of deities or higher being, they all practiced ceremonial celebrations. It is common to so many cultures, for so long  without them consulting each other and that fact reinforces my own beliefs.

What I enjoy the most in museums is definitely visiting ancient civilizations exhibitions. reproduction of places and real life environments. Those were the parts of the museum I spent the most time in. I feel highly curious about how life use to be and about ancient peoples ingenuity.  One of the part of the museum that I truly enjoyed was the Wrightsman Galleries and the Rococo style from Europe. Those furniture are so grandiose and impressive. It takes me on an imaginary and out of time experience. It reminded me of my visit of Versailles and the Loire Valley Castles, which was one of the best experience I had. It is just filled with art, character, craftmanship, talent and aesthetic, it really carries me emotionally.

They are some artists that I was interested in for biographical reasons. Their names make me feel like their works are "Must Seen". Artist like Pablo Picasso and Peter Carl Fabergé are so renowned that I felt rich just by having the opportunity to see their art. I also was interested in Paul Delvaux for the simple fact that he is a Belgian artist.

                                                                          (Pablo Picasso)

The way I looked at the art depended on its size or nature. For bigger piece, I needed to walk back, when it came to real life environment, I enjoyed a close up look to be able to see the details. I liked how the lighting put me in the right atmosphere.

For my overall experience, I felt like the museum was so big that I could not see it all. It was a bit frustrating because I wanted to see as much as possible. I did not use a map because my hands were busy with a note book and a pen, by consequences I found myself turning around and coming back to the same rooms over and over again, it was just like a maze. Thankfuly, there were security guards everywhere whom I could ask for my way, which helped me a lot. I will definitely go back because I want to see the galleries I did not get to see yet. The ideal visit is when you do not have any other commitment on that day and you are free to wander in the museum for hours! 

Ways of Looking

The Piece I picked to observe for 2 minutes was a huge panoramic illusion paint of the Gardens of Versailles. 

As soon as I entered the room, I recognized the place and I felt as if I was there. The size of the work was colossal and I felt sucked into the landscape. The room was circular, which reinforced the feeling of space. I had to look from a further point of view to truly appreciate it because when I was too close, the lack of light made details look like stains. All the trees and leaves looked like dark stains from a close up look but took life from a distance.

The light was very a soft yellow which helped me focused in the paint and feel sucked into it. The color of the walls matched the color of the pathways in the paint, it was a brownish, dusty pinkish color.  This paint was made by John Vanderlyn ( 1775-1852) It is oil paint on canvas made in 1818-19. This work carried me away, I enjoyed every part of it.