The Met Museum - Kris' Highlight Tour

​As an art-loving native New Yorker now living in the South, I have had numerous friends ask me to help them with a visit to the Met when they head to New York for vacation. For the uninitiated who may also only have a long weekend in the city, it can be intimidating. It’s collection is over 2 million pieces spanning over 5,000 years of global history, and the building itself is massive. It’s easy to get both overwhelmed and lost.  And not everyone considers themselves to be “art” people, but they want to appreciate it.

​As a result, I have created this highlights tour for them to make the building and the collection more approachable. I’m happy to add or subtract from this list depending on what someone's own interests are (maybe Egyptian, Asian, or Baroque?) but this tour will give you a good feel for the museum while not using up an entire day.

1. The Temple of Dendur (Gallery 131):
This is an ancient Egyptian temple dating back to 10 BC, gifted to the United States in the 1960s. It is stunningly housed in a massive glass wing with water features reflecting the temple and Central Park right outside. On our recent trip to Egypt, we visited Aswan and saw the valley that was flooded with the construction of the Aswan Dam. This temple would have been lost under the water had it not been sent to New York for preservation.

2. Impressionist Galleries (Galleries 805, 815, 816,  817, 825):
Head upstairs to the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist galleries. Here are the highlights:
Vincent van Gogh’s Wheat Field with Cypresses & Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat (Gallery 825).
Claude Monet’s Water Lilies (Gallery 805) Because it is Monet’s water lilies without having to fly to France. The Dance Class, Edgar Degas (Gallery 815) - probably his most famous painting. His famous statue of the ballerina is in this gallery, too.
 
The galleries next to it (Galleries 817 and 816) have paintings by Degas, Pisarro, Toulouse, and Manet if Impressionism is vibing.
Gallery 819 is all Monet.
Gallery 822 has a few other Van Gogh’s and a few Monet’s.

3. European Masterpieces (Gallery 600s):
f you feel compelled to see some famous Old Masters -  Vermeer only made 34 paintings - and they have one: Young Woman with a Water Pitcher, and they have 20 (!) Rembrandts

4: The Charles Engelhard Court (Gallery 700):
This is a beautiful, light-filled courtyard with 19th-century statues and original Tiffany stained glass windows. This courtyard also has the facade of an old bank (!) on one side. It’s just so pretty, and they have a really nice snack bar here if you want to take a break or even have lunch while you enjoy it. The sushi is surprisingly good, and there's wine if you want a more European feeling.

5. The Astor Chinese Garden Court (Gallery 217):
This room is modeled on a Ming dynasty (1368–1644) scholar's courtyard in the Garden of the Master of the Fishing Nets, Suzhou. It’s stunning and amazing to think it’s in the middle of this building. I love it almost as much as the Temple of Dendur.

6. Met Gala (Gallery 099):
This year’s exhibition that opened with the Met Gala is called “Costume Art”.

7. George Washington Crossing the Delaware (Gallery 760):
This monumental 21-foot-wide painting by Emanuel Leutze is a staggering sight in the American Wing. It is vastly more impressive in person. And one of the guys in the boat is my husband’s 7th great grandfather, Wattrous Clarke, which we think is pretty cool:-).