Visiting my Favorite Pieces at the MET Museum (and Some New Favorites, too)
Last week I unexpectedly went to NYC to a funeral and shiva. I’m not going to talk about that part, except that although it was sad I am so glad I went. I stayed in Manhattan with a friend and had two mornings free where I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art by myself. I grew up in Brooklyn (until I was 11) and my mom (who loves art and culture) would bring me to museums and outings all over the city. We would often go to the MET, which was free to go to (whatever donation you want) back then. Now it’s donation only for NY residents, which I guess is fair. Anyway, it was basically free which is crazy because it’s probably the best museum I’ve ever been to, even now, after going to the Prado and Louvre (where I cried to be taken back another day). We went to that museum all the time, and whenever I’m in the city now I always go at least once to see what’s on exhibit and visit my favorites.
I’m a huge fan of the 19th century French artist Odilon Redon. He mainly worked in oils and pastels. He is considered a symbolist so he would do all these wild paintings based on books like Ovid’s Metamorphoses and ancient myths… but he’d also do gorgeous still lifes of flowers in vases. Something about the way Redon used color and the way the colors touch and the texture of his paint or pastel… gets me all goosebumpy. There’s also a painting I love of his with two pegasus flying amongst clouds but it wasn’t on display this time.
Here are some pieces I’d always visit with my mom when I was a kid. I still love them. We actually had a print of Pygmalian and Galatea in outrhouse. You should look closely at it, it has some bizarre stuff going on.
The next painting, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen it before. I’ve seen a lot of Van Goghs in person, but this one was really striking to me. Van Gogh’s intense, curvy brush strokes take center stage in Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase. The paint is just so thick and beautiful in person. I got really close to look at it and luckily no one yelled at me (this time).
After visiting my favorites, and the Marvels exhibit (I’m dedicating my next blog post to that exhibit only), I tried to get lost. I know the museum pretty well but there’s some areas that are confusing and also they move stuff all the time. Here are some things I found while “lost”…
I could go on and on about the MET, but I’ll stop for now, and my next post will be all about the Marvels exhibit (spoiler: it was excellent). Until then, put on your calendar: Next Block pARTy (art walk) is March 28!
