Perhaps no word describes the Met as well as "encyclopedic." With nearly 3,000,000 works in its vaults that span 5,000 years, the museum can display only a fraction at a time. Several of the collections are described below.
The modern art section emphasizes mostly American paintings. The 19th-century European painting collection contains many great Impressionist and Post-Impressionist canvases. The European Paintings collection has Italian masterpieces as well as Dutch and Flemish works.
The American wing has the nation's finest collection of American painting, sculpture and decorative arts. Its Engelhard Court has fine examples of neoclassical and Beaux-Arts monumental sculpture and stained-glass windows by Tiffany. Nineteen period rooms date from 1680 (the Hart Room) to 1914 (the Frank Lloyd Wright Room).
The medieval art section encompasses the 4th through the 16th centuries. Strengths include early Christian and Byzantine silver and jewelry of the barbarian tribes.
The collections of the Asian Art section are from China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia. They date from the third millennium B.C. to the present. The re-creation of the Ming scholar's garden, with its rock garden and spring, is enchanting.
Works of ancient Near Eastern art range from the 6th millennium B.C. to the Arab conquest in A.D. 626 and come from Mesopotamia, Iran, Syria and Anatolia among other areas.
The Greek and Roman galleries cover several civilizations: works from the Classical period, pre-Greek artwork of the eastern Mediterranean and the pre-Roman art of Italy. The glass and silver holdings are considered among the finest in the world.
The Egyptian section includes jewelry from the Middle and New Kingdoms, sculpture depicting Queen Hatshepsut, and the Temple of Dendur, commanding a vast hangar-like space in the north wing.
Gallery talks and audio tours are offered in many languages. Subscription lectures, films, concerts and symposia are integral to the exhibitions.
Programs for Seniors
Met Escapes invites individuals living with dementia, together with their family members or care partners, to participate in discussions, handling sessions, art making and other interactive and multi-sensory activities in the galleries and in a Met classroom. This program is free, but reservations are required and places are limited. Call (212) 650–2010 or e-mail access@metmuseum.org to make a reservation or for more information.
Community Outreach programs are provided to senior centers by the museum's education department.
Foreign-language Programs
The museum's website can be viewed in many languages and different audio guide programs are available in a variety of languages. Tours are available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. Guided tours and international guided tours meet in the Great Hall. Workshops for Spanish-speaking families with children between the ages of 4 and 10 take place on a regular basis.
Hearing: American Sign Language-interpreted programs, captioned lectures and films. Audio guides available in print for the hearing impaired. Assistive listening devices available for tours and programs. Infrared hearing devices with headsets and neckloops available in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium and the Ruth and Harold D. Uris Center for Education.
Vision: Large-print materials, verbal imaging tours, touch tours and monthly drawing classes. Audio guides and Braille materials are free for visually impaired visitors.
Voice (212) 650-2010; TTY (212) 570-3828
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Rembrandt and Degas: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Thurs, Feb 23, 2012 – Sun, May 20, 2012 This exhibition explores the influence of Rembrandt on Degas through a series of self-portraits of the two artists when they were both starting out on their illustrious careers.
CONTACT! The New York Philharmonic's New Music Series
Please check full listing for event date and times Since the 2009-10 season, The New York Philharmonic's New Music Series has presented ten world premiere-New York Philharmonic commissions and one U.S. premiere.
Infinite Jest: Caricature and Satire from Leonardo to Levine
Tues, Sept 13, 2011 – Sun, March 4, 2012 This exhibition explores caricature and satire in its many forms from the Italian Renaissance to the present.
The Cloisters—Metropolitan Museum of Art
Manhattan