The Metropolitan Museum of Art

For a student who is majoring in art, I have to admit, I'm extremely uneducated and unaware of the many decades of art that have come before me. This is always a bittersweet realization for me. On the one hand, it means I am painfully behind many of my fellow art students when it comes to knowing the classics and having a solid foundation in art history. But on the other hand, it's actually wonderful because it helps me to realize how much there is to learn. Learning is something we do throughout out lives and I am completely certain that I could spend the entirety of my life studying art history and I still would not know probably half of the history out there. 


Honestly, art history has always bored me to tears. Growing up, I was not the child who loved going to museums, I wasn't even the child who loved learning, sadly. I was all about learning life lessons, I'd gladly skip the book smarts if I had had the option. Once I began to grow up and realize quite obviously that there is much more to the world than my seemingly insignificant life, I began to enjoy cultural things like art museums and theatre. I still have a long way to go to becoming a well-rounded and culturally aware world citizen, but I can say with confidence that I've begun making progress. 


With that said, I am actually quite excited about my latest endeavor into art culture. Admittedly, I was not too thrilled about the idea first. For the record, it sounded interesting, I will give it that. The only reason I was not thrilled was because I dreaded the idea of walking around a museum that I might not like for hours. I knew that Melanie could entertain herself for hours, even if she had no previous interest in the exhibit. I wasn't sure I could match her enthusiasm. 


With all of that rambling put aside, I will get to the point. We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and it was fantastic. The museum was massive and I imagine you couldn't get through it in one day no matter how much time you allotted. There were just too many exhibits to get through in one day. Luckily, entrance to the museum was only $10 for students, and that was the "suggested donation" so technically, it could've been free. Trust me, for the amount of amazing things in the museum, this is a steal. 


Melanie and I only got through a few exhibits because we only had a few hours. We looked at the Egyptian, Medieval, American, and a huge storage room that had an incredible variety of things from different time periods. The Egyptian exhibit was my favorite! It's incredible to look at all of that stuff and to think of how long it has all been preserved. It makes you really appreciate the Egyptians and their art of preservation. 


Here are some pictures to give you just a taste at all of the wonderful things we saw! 

Egyptian: 

 Medieval: 

American:

 Storage Room Variety: 

If you ever get the chance, definitely head up to NYC and check out this fantastic museum!