Metropolitan Museum of Art
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
- There is also the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), located in Manhattan.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, often referred to simply as The Met, is one of the world's largest and most important art museums, located on the eastern edge of Central Park in Manhattan, New York, United States. It also comprises a building complex known as "The Cloisters" in Fort Tryon Park at the north end of Manhattan Island overlooking the Hudson River which features medieval art.
The museum opened on February 20, 1872. Its founding Superintendent was the publisher George Palmer Putnam. Its director from 1955 to his death on May 11, 1966, was James J. Rorimer. He was succeeded by Thomas Hoving, who served from March 17, 1967 to June 30, 1977. The current director is Phillipe de Montebello.
Its massive collection ranges from treasures of Classical Antiquity like its Greek galleries and Cypriot galleries to nearly all the European masters, as well as an extensive collection of American art. It also possesses extensive holdings in Egyptian — including the Temple of Dendur — African, Asian, Oceanic, Middle Eastern, Byzantine and Islamic art. The museum also contains recreations of notable interiors, including one by famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The Department of Arms and Armor displays a collection of antique weapons and armor from around the world, primarily Europe, but also Japan, the United States, and the Middle East, with extensive holdings from other cultures and periods in the study collection.
On the passing of banker Robert Lehman in 1969, his Foundation donated close to 3,000 works of art to the museum. Housed in the "Robert Lehman Wing," the museum refers to the collection [1] as one of the most extraordinary private art collections ever assembled in the United States. Princeton University Press has documented the massive collection in a multi-volume book series published as "The Robert Lehman Collection Catalogues."
One of The Met's latest purchases and the most expensive piece of art is Duccio's Madonna and Child, costing the museum more than 45 million dollars. The painting is only 8 x 11 inches.
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Whitney Museum of American Art are near the museum's main building. The museum is widely considered to be among the best in the world.
