When we got to the Met it was very crowded. The line was long, and I snuck a photo of these oddly-dressed young women. Mom tried to ask them if they were in a play, but they didn’t speak English. I told her I was sure they weren’t in a play, but on the other hand, why were they dressed like that? Because it’s New York.
The first thing we went to see was the exhibit of Costume Art. The website says – The Costume Institute’s spring 2026 exhibition explores depictions of the dressed body across The Met’s vast collection, pairing garments with artworks to reveal the inherent relationship between clothing and the body.
This one was called “Blood.” We saw a few more interesting things but both of us wanted to flee because there were just so many people milling about.
Of course we went to see the Impressionists, because that’s what I like to do – I want to walk through Central Park, and I want to see the Impressionists at the Met.
More specifically, I love Monet. Here’s “Poppy Fields near Argentuil,” and I have a little of copy of it at home.
I don’t recall ever seeing this one, it’s “The Bodmer Oak, Fountainbleau Forest.” I’d never seen a painting of his of a forest and I liked it very much. According to the accompanying card, the forest was an artistic hot spot in the 1830s. Interesting to think about a bunch of artists hanging out in the forest in the 1830s…
I also really like this one a lot. It’s “Morning on the Seine near Giverny” and Monet started it in 1896, but the placard says that his Morning on the Seine series wasn’t finished until 1897 because of inclement weather. He scouted out views along the river and then painted the pictures from a boat he had converted into a floating studio. For an extended period he rose by dawn in order to paint the changing effects of light as the sun came up. He then lined up the canvases on easels in his studio to complete them together as a series. Fifteen were shown at the Galerie Georges Petit in 1898.
Gee, I’d have liked to have seen them all lined up. I need to study Monet – I bet Mom has a book about him in her garage, along with many other art books resting there.
This was a tiny little picture, a study for “A Sunday on La Grand Jatte,” which was then the inspiration for the musical “Sunday in the Park with George.”
I wanted to see the Impressionists, and Mom wanted to look at Modern Art, so we then tramped all around looking for some. The Modern Art wing was closed for remodeling but a helpful guard told us that there was a small collection of works somewhere. So we walked. And walked. And walked through so many vast crowds of people, and finally arrived at a very small section with a few paintings. We didn’t linger long. At least there weren’t many people in this remote outpost, but as we trudged back towards the entrance there were just so many of them.
We got on an elevator and an employee who joined us told us that the museum was only 30% full or some such nonsense. I don’t believe him! Mabye I’ve just never been there in summertime. Mom was ready to leave; she didn’t even want to see the Temple of Dendur, but I did coerce her into stopping in this courtyard in the American wing.
She smiled for the camera, but she was actually just ready to get the hell outta there. I left her leaning against something or maybe I even found her a place to sit, and then I had to take a few more pictures. I love these ornate columns so much, and the Tiffany lamps and glass underneath.
And of course I had to stop and read the card about it – it’s really a remarkable thing, the Loggia from Laurelton Hall, Oyster Bay, New York. This columnar screen once served as the terrace entrance to Laurelton Hall, the extraordinary Oyster Bay, Long Island home that Tiffany designed for himself between 1902 and 1905. The exotic capital feature flowers (lotus, peony, poppy and magnolia) in various stages of bloom. The blossoms are composed of glazed ceramic and the stems of tiny slivers of varicolored green glass. Iridescent glass tiles cover the architrave and geometric mosaics embellish the supporting corbel arches, from which three bell-shaped lanterns are suspended. Laurelton Hall was the crowning achievement of Tiffany’s multifaceted career.
I mean!!! It was destroyed by fire in 1957. So tragic. But at least the massive screen was spared. This column was also saved; it’s one of two that initially flanked shimmering curtains that divided the room in Tiffany’s showroom at Madison Avenue and 47th Street. They were later taken to Tiffany’s incredible Laurelton Hall. I wonder what happened to the other one?
There’s a little photo of the showroom on the placard and I can’t believe how awesome it would have been to have seen it. I just started down the rabbit hole of looking at the many incredible works by Tiffany that are displayed at the museum. Sometime I want to go back and really study things in depth; I think I’d need to go alone, and I’d have to take long breaks and go there several days, with long breaks in Central Park, literally in the museum’s back yard.
We took the bus back to the hotel and were there by 4:30. The crowds had thinned out down at the International Expo, but there were some stalls still set up.
And then we had plenty of time to get ready to go to dinner and yet another show…
Ok then, G.H.