31/1/13 – Day 3 Metropolitan Museum of Art Infusion Week

Today we tackled European paintings up to the 18^th century. We could easily spend our entire time here at the Met. According to Wikipedia, The Metropolitan Museum of Art is the largest art museum in the United States with more than two million works, divided among seventeen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is by area one of the world's largest art galleries. There is also a much smaller second location at "The Cloisters" in Upper Manhattan that features medieval art.

Represented in the Met’s permanent collection are works of art from classical antiquity and Ancient Egypt, paintings and sculptures from nearly all the European masters, and an extensive collection of American and modern art. The Met also maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanic, Byzantine, and Islamic art. The museum is also home to encyclopaedic collections of musical instruments, costumes and accessories, and antique weapons and armour from around the world.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 by a group of American citizens. The founders included businessmen and financiers, as well as leading artists and thinkers of the day, who wanted to open a museum to bring art and art education to the American people. It opened on February 20, 1872 and has gradually expanded over the years. As of today it occupies more than 2,000,000 square feet (190,000 m2).

Too bad the shift in education today is towards maths and science at the expense of the arts!

These flowers are supplied fresh each week from the Lila Wallace Foundation - nice idea!