Musings on the ‘MET’

One of the greatest intellectual delights of visiting New York is to savour the great art of its iconic museums. The architectural grandeur and brilliance of their edifices, their stupendous collections of art and antiquities will mesmerise you. You will never get enough of them, and you will never be able to see enough of them. The sweep of their collections is an endless expanse of geographies, eras and histories — an ocean of treasuries whose depth you cannot fathom.

My favourite ones — the Metropolitan Museum, popularly called the MET, and the Solomon Guggenheim Museum — are both located within 10 minutes’ walking distance to one another on the stretch called the ‘Museum Mile’ of the 5th Avenue, between 82nd and 89th Streets. Adjacent to the Central Park, their prime locations enable one to visit the three major New York attractions — the two museums and the Central Park — conveniently.

There are umpteen fascinating museums in New York, thanks to benevolent funding by philanthropic tycoons and rich Americans. The founding fathers of America had the great spirit to enrich their young, newly independent nation free from the yoke of the colonial British rule, with high quality cultural institutions like museums, public libraries, theatres, opera house and town halls — all hallmarks of the ‘gilded age’ of the city. Many of them were financed by the new born capitalists, tycoons and billionaires of the 19th century — often referred to as the ‘robber barons’!

I always like to begin my tour with the grand neo-classical, beaux-arts façade of the MET. The large steps that lead to the entrance lobby of the museum heighten the anticipation of soon coming face to face with the works of great masters and relics of historic eras from all parts and geographies of the globe.

The ambience of people hanging around on the entrance steps — chatting, eating hamburgers, or drinking milkshakes bought from the colourful food trucks always parked in front — feeding the hordes of hungry art lovers after their “museum darshan" is a celebration of art and culture from around the world.

I already have my plans ready for the galleries that I wish to visit that day.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is the third-largest museum in the world with 5.36 million visitors in 2023, and the fifth-most visited in the world. According to an information brochure, ‘It currently holds a total of 1.5 million works in its permanent collection, ranging from the ancient Near East and ancient Egypt, through classical antiquity to the contemporary world. It also maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine and Islamic art’.

My journey is straight to Impressionists of the 19th and 20th century, displayed in the European Art galleries. As I ponder over the bold brush strokes of a Van Gogh or a Claude Monet, I can smell the lingering aroma of the thick brush strokes of the antique oil paints they used. The delicate ballerinas of an Edgar Degas are entrancing. In the hushed silence of the galleries where only great art talks, it’s not easy to ask an art connoisseur or an awestruck first-time gazer to break his/her reverie and take some pictures for your Facebook glory back home. But I do, and have some lovely memories to boast of.

On the way out, I wander into the Egyptian section. As I walk through ‘mummies’ pharaohs and stone artefacts — I walk up to a silent, statuesque security guard. “Hullo, can I ask you a question?” Sure! he answers. "Did you know your former colleague, Patrick Bringley, who is now world‑famous for his book ‘All the Beauty in the World’?"

“Yes. While he worked here, we didn’t meet much, but after the book he invited all of us security guards to a party and the play based on the book,” he says.

I shook hands with Christopher Fraser — the friendly guard — and walked away, hoping that some of the magic of the MET had rubbed off my hands too.