The artworks at The Met
The second trip of the class we went to The Met museum. It is one of the largest museums in the world. People come from all over the world to visit The Met because The Met has different period collections. The year of the collections can be back to 5000 years ago, which means the museum contains 5000 years history of the art. Also, visitors can find the art not only from American, but from Asia, Africa, Australia, Pacific Islands, and, Europe. Every year there has over 5 million visits. The location of the museum is convenient, located in the central park. I got off at 4/5/6 station at 86 St and walked about 6 minutes. The admission for New York State residents that is included New Jersey and Connecticut students, is paid as you wish. For the outside visitors, the admission fee would be $25 for adults, $17 for seniors, $12 for students and the children that under 12 would be free. I think the admission fee is reasonable
At first, we met with a guest called Robert. He is the Food and Beverage Manager at the museum. Robert introduced us to the restaurants that at The Met and brought us to a fine dining used to a place that only allows members. I found that very interesting, that was the first time I knew The Met museum fine dining restaurant. And then Robert brought us to the rooftop bar. The bar is a nice place to chill, the beautiful view of the Big Apple City. I think it is a very good trend for marketing the museum, the museum wants to target all ages of the people. I found that in common, many hotels is doing the rooftop bar. Rooftop Bar can increase the revenue and attract more visitors, it is a win-win situation.It was a nice experience that, I never knew the rooftop bar.
About 12:30 p.m., we went downstairs for the highlights tour. The name of the tour guide is Susan Jordan. The first place that we went was the Greek sculptured effigy. Madam Jordan explained to us about the history of the sculpture, The art is called Kourus; it is a man with contrapposto position. This remained me the art class that I took the art class. The next part that we looked at was the marble sculptured effigy he was more realistic. And then we moved up an artwork that called Ambrym Slit Gongs. Ambrym Slit Gongs is a musical instrument that came from the Pacific Island. This musical instrument is very unique; the structure of the instrument is a human body and it represents the ancestor of the village. Every village has it own Slit drum (the musical instrument). I never knew that Ambrym Slit Gongs is a musical instrument. Madam Jordan let us take a guess where is the mouth of the instrument. It is interesting that some people think that the long hole of the body is the mouth, actually, it is. The next piece that Madam Jordan showed us was the Instruments of Power. The Instruments of Power was the reflection of United States’s situation in the past. This was new to me, I never paid attention to the art before. The favorite artwork during the tour was the portrait Velazquez by Juan de Pareja. The portrait is like a photo, it is very smooth. Madam Jordan explained to us the artist used the technique of wet to wet so it made the portrait very smooth. This was the first time I heard about wet to wet.
The tour of The Met was amazing, I have learned so much from the tour guide. I think the knowledge of the art is very important to us, it can drive our passion to go to the museum. After the museum had changed the price policy, the museum was not as crowded as before. In the past there was a long line at the museum, people were waiting to get in from outside to inside. I felt $25 ticket for The Met is worth it. The comfortable level of the museum, was nice I felt I had common with some people, I appreciate the art from 5000 years ago. To me, The Met is a museum that could bring you to explore the art that from different countries and from the art I can learn about the culture of the country.
