The Met

Today is/was Tuesday, and my buddy Levon and I went down to the Met, which is short for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It’s one of the best known Museums here in NYC, along with the Guggenheim and the Museum of Modern Art (which I’ve also been to and decided I didn’t care for very much). The trip was particularly enhanced by the fact that admission is free for Columbia students. Tough to come up with a good excuse not to take advantage of that.
Now, I’ve been to the Louvre in France last summer, and was absolutely blown away. I didn’t think any museum after that one had the ability to impress me … but I must admit, this one did. It’s also quite large, larger than I thought it would be, and had a great collection of all kinds of stuff from many different periods in history. Including a very respectable Greek sculpture garden, which to me might almost represent the highest form of ‘classical art’, if I could call it that. The realism one finds in those statues, the way they look as if they could walk right off the pedestals, is extraordinary. I was deeply moved when I saw them at the Louvre, and was moved to see similar works here. They also have a very nice Asian wing, with art & artifacts from China, Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia.
This particular piece caught my eye, as I've never seen a sculpture set out in front of such a lush painting like this with such great effect. I'm not sure if the pieces are actually tied together historically or artistically, but if not the people in the museum did a very good job laying things out.
All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable and worthwhile trip. I highly recommend it if you’re in New York and museums are your thing. You won’t be disappointed.