America is a land of great museums and every museum has spellbinding stories and extraordinary

collections. Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is that one. New York City Metropolitan Museum
ofArt stretches 1,000 feet long 5th Avenue on Central Park

the founders of the match we're talking

about 1870 wanted a museum in which many

representative examples of the great

harlot world could be presented we've

shown over the last 130 140 years that

some of the great treasures of mankind

could be acquired and are in fact here

inside is a dazzling three-dimensional

encyclopedia of world art overwhelming

in the variety and outstanding quality

of its collections you can walk in the

door and literally work through the

entire history of human creation from

its earliest forms through

through today you have to figure out

your place in that in that universe of

art in which direction he'll go vast

galleries and storage vaults of the two

million square foot museum overflow with

more than 2 million objects some are

grouped in visual narratives others

01:55

celebrated on pedestals all invite our

01:59

attention most people who are not very

02:02

familiar with our collection are

02:03

surprised to see so many famous familiar

02:06

paintings key works in the history of

02:08

art and here they are hanging on our

02:10

walls there's something absolutely

02:13

thrilling about seeing the work itself

02:16

the running text is aah oh my goodness

02:19

that's so pretty I didn't realize that

02:21

was so rad

02:22

that's a response that's good but I can

02:25

say to all of you looking is when you

02:27

come before a work of art if it doesn't

02:29

immediately speak to you

02:32

cause wait a now the work of art to

02:35

yield its message

03:07

over 3,000 years ago an Egyptian

03:10

sculptor created this masterpiece in

03:12

yellow Jasper it is so powerful so

03:15

engaging even though it is a fragment

03:17

clearly broken part of a larger

03:20

sculpture look at those strong red lips

03:23

that wonderful line underneath it the

03:25

way that light hits the cheeks and the

03:27

hollow of the cheek it's just one of the

03:30

great works of Egyptian art on a great

03:33

sculptures of any civilization curators

03:36

at the Metropolitan Museum of Art must

03:38

decide for this day and age what makes a

03:41

masterpiece well first there has to be

03:44

skill but then you can have all the

03:47

skill in the world and not be able to

03:49

communicate the spiritual ones serenity

03:55

chaos love

03:58

innocence power

04:01

desire remorse it's that fundamental

04:05

human quality in the end that

04:09

distinguishes a great master a great

04:11

anything el Greco working in Spain some

04:15

400 years ago

04:16

surely painted from the soul the

04:19

expressive nature of El Greco's

04:21

paintings ly the the exaggerated

04:24

proportions of his figures and the

04:26

soulful expression but the real magic to

04:29

me is the poetry of the hands the Dutch

04:33

master van Gogh poured his emotions onto

04:36

the canvas

04:37

the result was not accidental it was

04:41

deliberate every single brush stroke has

04:44

been applied with a very precise

04:47

movement of the hand the American

04:51

painter Thomas Eakins was exacting in

04:54

his realist portraits of humanity that

04:56

is a painting of great mathematical

04:58

precision incredible perspective light

05:01

color if you look deep into the distance

05:03

you see Aikens himself in the distant

05:05

boat works by some of the most

05:09

celebrated painters in the history of

05:11

art are in the Mets European collection

05:13

here is Rubens portrait of the artist

05:16

with his second wife and their then

05:18

youngest child you can see his love for

05:21

her and she is the embodiment of ideal

05:25

beauty and all the things you see in the

05:28

painting are all symbols of this love

05:30

affair that brought forth this sort of

05:32

second blooming in Rubens is life and

05:34

was the inspiration of many of his

05:36

finest works you're dealing with one of

05:38

the greatest artists who ever lived the

05:40

evidence is clear the Western painting

05:43

tradition focused on figure color and

05:45

paint in the east the Chinese masters

05:49

celebrated the energy of the lion

05:52

painting in China did not feel the need

05:56

to use bright colors and that has to do

05:59

with the tradition of calligraphy and

06:00

valuing the quality of line one of the

06:03

earliest paintings in the collection

06:06

dates to the eighth century at the

06:09

portrait of a horse by the renowned

06:11

horse painter hangang in the lure of

06:14

horses in China a great horse was like a

06:17

dragon and this fiery spirit is I think

06:21

what the artist was really trying to

06:22

capture the same energy courses through

06:25

all things they call it cheap whether

06:27

it's the mountains and trees animals as

06:30

human beings so for an artist to tap

06:32

into that by spontaneously using his

06:35

brush to capture his own energy somehow

06:38

he imparts new life the pictorial image

06:41

surrounding the borders of the paintings

06:43

are the written comments and red seals

06:46

of past owners so you have 1,200 years

06:49

of history recorded as part of the

06:52

object it adds it adds a sense of the

06:55

linkage between the viewer who opens it

06:58

today and all of these other people

07:00

who've appreciated in the past at the

07:02

heart of the Chinese collection is a

07:04

scholars garden I think everybody loves

07:07

this garden because you come in you have

07:09

a sense of tranquility you've been

07:11

transported to another world that is in

07:14

essence what much of Chinese painting

07:16

tries to achieve

07:17

it's a mountain of the mind it's a

07:20

landscape of the imagination and it's

07:22

intended for the viewer to somehow lose

07:26

himself or herself in this other world

07:29

one can walk the world within the walls

07:32

of the Metropolitan Museum of Art cone

07:35

the continents of Asia America Africa

07:39

come face to face with the art of Egypt

07:42

Europe Greece and Rome what one sees at

07:47

the Met is all of those civilizations

07:49

represented under this one roof

08:01

well you know the meds it's it's sort of

08:03

an odd place because it grew up through

08:05

topsy-turvy physically the spaces the

08:09

building was sort of added to it's not a

08:12

place where you get a linear view of

08:14

anything behind the splendid fifth

08:17

avenue BOS Arts facade beyond the

08:20

majestic Great Hall between the

08:22

brilliantly modern atrium wings is the

08:25

Met of the 19th century the 1888

08:29

exterior now forms the interior wall of

08:32

the Petrie European sculpture court and

08:34

deep inside is the museum's first

08:37

permanent home a Victorian Gothic

08:39

structure opened in 1880 today its

08:44

Cathedral like space houses part of the

08:46

medieval collection much of its donated

08:49

by the man who shaped the Mets

08:50

collecting strategy a hundred years ago

08:53

the powerful New York financier JP

08:56

Morgan JP Morgan was an enormous to

09:00

cultivated man passionate about works of

09:03

art passionate about history died as

09:05

people are fond to say almost a pauper

09:08

because he invested almost his entire

09:11

fortune in art he himself collected

09:14

whole collections Morgan couldn't resist

09:17

incredible finds this majestic

09:20

Romanesque wooden sculpture of the

09:21

Virgin and Child a 16th century Milanese

09:25

parade helmet and this important work by

09:28

Raphael painted in the early 1500s when

09:31

the artist was barely 20

09:34

by the early 1900s Morgan was head of

09:37

the museum's Board of Trustees he

09:39

focused his wealth and vision on Egypt

09:42

JP Morgan is responsible for the fact

09:45

that the Metropolitan Museum has an

09:46

Egyptian Department and morgan

09:49

understood that the best way in the

09:52

early 20th century of collecting

09:54

Egyptian art was to excavate more than

09:58

half of the Mets Egyptian collection of

10:00

nearly 36,000 objects is derived from

10:03

the museum's first 30 years of

10:05

archaeological work in Egypt if you walk

10:08

around the galleries you can go through

10:11

all of Egyptian history you don't just

10:13

see the great pieces that are the Kings

10:16

you also get a feel for things that

10:20

ordinary people would have had and it

10:22

brings the culture closer to an

10:25

individual viewer which i think is

10:27

really important the mummy is one of the

10:30

most potent symbols of ancient Egypt its

10:33

purpose was to provide a safe haven for

10:35

the spirit in the afterlife by

10:37

preserving the body one of the most

10:39

magical decorations on early coffins are

10:43

the two eyes on the side we assume that

10:46

the eyes allow the mummy to look out of

10:48

the coffin later on you get anthropoid

10:51

coffins they're sort of mummy form they

10:55

have a face and in those the person is

10:57

placed on it his back or her back and

10:59

can look out through the face in the

11:01

1920s the Mets archeological team made a

11:04

spectacular discovery in Thebes at the

11:07

ancient tomb of a great noble named

11:09

meketa all had been destroyed except one

11:13

small hidden chamber untouched since

11:16

maquette razuna roll four thousand years

11:18

ago what they found inside were twelve

11:21

little boxes with scenes inside bakers

11:24

and brewers who are making food we have

11:27

a stable where the people are forced

11:30

feeding cattle preparing them for

11:32

slaughter and we have the slaughterhouse

11:33

in the afterlife maquette Roe would also

11:36

need the service of this goddess and she

11:39

is wearing a long

11:41

that has a sort of feather pattern on it

11:43

only goddesses usually wear feathered

11:45

gowns all of the paint on that figure is

11:48

just beautifully preserved people who

11:51

walk in there think they're models while

11:53

they are models but they were made in

11:55

about 2000 BC so there are 4000 years

11:57

old these monumental statues are of

12:01

hatshepsut one of Egypt's few female

12:03

Pharaohs at chef suit came to the throne

12:06

as regent for her nephew tuck Moses the

12:09

third about 20 years after her death

12:13

tough Moses the third smashes all of her

12:16

monuments eyes and noses even hole faces

12:19

were hacked away for three thousand

12:22

years the countless fragments lay

12:24

scattered in a quarry until the Mets

12:26

archaeologists stumbled upon them in the

12:28

1920s reassembling the pieces was

12:31

painstaking because it's like putting a

12:33

puzzle together without the photograph

12:36

and you don't have enough pieces and

12:38

some of the pieces weigh half a ton and

12:40

some of them are as big as your fist the

12:42

reassembled statues reveal hatshepsut in

12:45

the appearance and attire of a male King

12:48

and then we have the beautiful white

12:50

statue which a lot of people say looks

12:52

feminine and delicate which it does

12:55

she's wearing the male kilt and she is

12:59

wearing the nimmi's head cloth but for

13:01

most people she looks like a more

13:03

feminine image

13:04

from the boy King Tut to the gargantuan

13:07

roman-era temple of Dender a collection

13:10

of ancient Egyptian art at the

13:11

Metropolitan Museum ranks among the

13:14

finest outside Cairo the museum some

13:17

people say operates like nineteen little

13:19

museums all in one it almost has to

13:21

because it's such a big place big enough

13:23

to house a grand equestrian court the

13:26

Metropolitan museum's collection of arms

13:29

armor is probably the most encyclopedic

13:30

of any in the world that is we have over

13:33

fourteen thousand objects that span

13:35

about 1500 years and cover almost every

13:38

major civilization of the world in Japan

13:41

the counterpart of the knight in shining

13:43

armor was the samurai warrior armed with

13:46

his famous curved sword Japanese armor

13:50

was made of small plates of leather or

13:52

iron held together by silk laces it was

13:55

form-fitting at the same time that boxy

13:58

skirt around the base telescoped up

14:00

around the rider on horseback and

14:02

created a natural defense around his

14:04

midsection this 14th century example is

14:07

exceedingly rare

14:09

it belonged to ashikaga takauji a

14:12

leading general and shogun of japan a

14:16

german master craftsman coin slot made

14:19

this superb set of horse and body armor

14:22

for the Duke of Saxony in the 1530s many

14:25

of the objects here are show pieces the

14:27

sculptural form the inherent beauty of

14:29

the decoration the physical presence of

14:32

the objects is overwhelming this field

14:34

armor belonged to one of England's

14:35

best-known kings and read the 8th

14:39

the armor was made about 1544 when henry

14:42

much married decided to with a last

14:45

spurt of vigor go to war personally for

14:48

the first time in over three decades he

14:51

mounted a horse and rode off into battle

14:53

this time to France taking with him

14:55

thousands of English troops with the

14:57

idea of capturing Paris his armor was

15:00

brilliant his plan was not surprisingly

15:03

plate armor was highly functional this

15:06

is the gauntlet flying into a field

15:08

armor of king philip ii of spain if you

15:12

imagine a lobster and the articulation

15:14

of its shell and how it moves that's

15:17

very much the way that armor moves it's

15:19

in miniature a masterpiece of both

15:22

anatomical design function and

15:25

decoration as in any aspect of the

15:29

Metropolitan Museum a closer look is

15:31

always the most convincing that we are

15:34

indeed in the presence of great works

15:48

the extraordinary timelessness of this

15:52

place is very humbling it's humbling to

15:54

be one of those people who hangs the

15:56

works of art and makes the choices in

15:59

the 19th century paintings were hung

16:01

salon-style frame-to-frame

16:03

floor-to-ceiling with the most important

16:06

works at eye level in today's American

16:10

salon take a turn and suddenly there it

16:12

is Emanuel Leutze vision of Washington

16:16

Crossing the Delaware it really does

16:18

become the icon of the American Way it's

16:20

shown again and again and again and

16:21

reproduced probably more than any other

16:23

picture in our collection a work of art

16:27

in the gallery follows for a your

16:30

average visitor what I like to call the

16:32

precious object tradition that is it's

16:34

in the Metropolitan Museum it's on a

16:36

pedestal it's clean and shiny it's

16:38

beautiful it must be a masterpiece you

16:41

walk into the loose Center and we like

16:44

to think that we've sort of thrown a

16:45

wrench into that the Henry Luce Center

16:47

for the Study of American art is a

16:49

visible storage area

16:52

the loose Center is interesting because

16:53

it allows people up front right away to

16:57

know the collection from which we're

17:00

making our choices the range of objects

17:03

is staggering an endless wall of empty

17:05

picture frames statuary row after row of

17:09

paintings of all kinds the cases are

17:12

crowded with silver from all periods

17:15

chairs of all styles tables clocks china

17:21

shelves of Tiffany glass from one

17:24

generation to the next from one curator

17:27

the next with a different eye with a

17:28

different bias what may be relegated to

17:31

the ruse center for one curators pulled

17:34

out and put in the primary galleries for

17:37

another richly displayed in the American

17:39

Way our master works by John Singer

17:41

Sargent if you go back and forth between

17:43

the Luce Center and the galleries you

17:45

get a sense of the range in his work

17:47

from student productions

17:49

studies for murals all the way through

17:51

finished society portraits the concept

17:55

behind the lose center goes back to the

17:58

whole notion of connoisseurship

17:59

connoisseurship being the study of works

18:02

of art comparatively in the primary

18:06

galleries a comparison of 19th century

18:09

landscape painting American style shows

18:12

an evolving preoccupation with the

18:14

effects of light and atmosphere note the

18:17

opalescent sky and water and George

18:19

Caleb Bingham spur traders descending

18:21

the Missouri and the exciting contrast

18:24

gloom and light in Martin Johnson heeds

18:27

coming storm there are little narratives

18:30

all over the American Way carefully

18:32

placed objects meant to tell you some

18:35

sort of story or to give you some bit of

18:38

information in a gallery filled with

18:41

Winslow homers later works his

18:43

northeaster blows and bellows with

18:45

raging energy nearby in a quiet corner

18:49

John Hawkins river scene a masterwork of

18:53

American Impressionism provides a safe

18:55

harbor there is never a painting hung

18:58

next to another without some

18:59

consideration of what the two might say

19:01

to each other

19:02

repose by John Alexander white captures

19:06

a carefree moment in which this language

19:08

figure seems to float away she shares a

19:11

gallery with this bold Beauty by Thomas

19:14

anxious titled the rows and the rows

19:17

although a small component a mere prop

19:21

really becomes a personification of her

19:23

doesn't it

19:24

there are over 17,000 works in the Mets

19:27

American art collection from colonial

19:30

times through the early 20th century

19:32

throughout the American wing two dozen

19:35

period rooms provide context for the

19:38

paintings sculpture and decorative arts

19:40

on display in our field of American art

19:44

we have the right to call ourselves the

19:46

most comprehensive collection of

19:48

American art in the world

19:58

success for an art museum cannot be

20:01

measured quantitatively it has to do

20:05

with how deeply the museum is able to

20:08

make an impact on its visitors in the

20:12

Mets 19th century European collection

20:14

many of the paintings mostly French are

20:18

incomparable the corbeil will move the

20:22

parrot it's a shocking painting curved

20:25

A's handling of paint his depiction of

20:28

flesh is sufficiently realistic as to

20:31

cause very strong reactions on the part

20:33

of yours today another woman with a

20:35

parrot dwells nearby this one by core

20:38

Bay's rival Edouard Manet almost

20:41

certainly a satirical commentary on core

20:44

Bay's nude of course 19th century Paris

20:48

was also the center of the

20:50

Impressionists universe

20:52

the stories are as simple as walking

20:54

through a hay field with poppies on a

20:56

beautiful sunny day all you have to do

20:58

is be human to recognize the pleasure in

21:00

such an image at the Met there are water

21:03

lilies by Monet sunflowers and cypresses

21:06

by Van Gogh apples and primroses by

21:09

Cezanne a parade of early works by

21:12

Gauguin and Matisse and Renoir's

21:15

stunning group portrait Madame

21:17

Charpentier and her children in other

21:19

words the most important collection of

21:21

impressionist and post-impressionist

21:22

painting in America key works came from

21:26

the peerless private collection of a

21:29

true art connoisseur who is een have a

21:31

minor wife of the sugar baron h OU have

21:34

a meyer luisina have Amaya became

21:38

much a student of art in addition to

21:42

simply a connector a master of objects

21:45

as a teenager she visited Paris in 1874

21:48

where she met and befriended the

21:50

American artist Mary Cassatt she became

21:54

a devoted collector of Cassatt's work

21:56

not merely for the companionship because

21:59

she saw how beautiful the paintings were

22:01

how great they would become in young

22:03

world her sewing by Mary Cosette you see

22:05

some of her most popular imagery the

22:07

imagery that she's best known for that

22:09

is the the subject of mothers and

22:11

children

22:11

she used friends and family in her

22:14

compositions painting them quite quite

22:16

beautifully and showing herself to be

22:18

every bit the worthy colleague of the

22:21

great French Impressionists guided by

22:23

Cosette Lewis scene Havemeyer became one

22:26

of the earliest collectors of

22:27

Impressionism above all she favored

22:30

Edgar Digga she wanted to have early

22:33

works and late works she wanted to have

22:35

finished paintings as well as in formal

22:38

studies what she made was an exhaustive

22:40

and comprehensive collection of his work

22:42

which makes me believe that she fully

22:44

understood his achievement and wanted to

22:47

document it - dancers practicing at the

22:49

bar is an example of de gAHS wit at play

22:52

the fact that he included a watering can

22:55

at the bottom left mimicking with its

22:59

spout the angle of the dancers feet

23:03

his cleverness in making a visual

23:06

analogy an entire gallery at the Met is

23:09

devoted to the Havemeyer collection of

23:11

Degas bronze sculptures featuring his

23:14

twin fascinations horses and ballerinas

23:17

center stage in the heavy mire

23:20

collection is Degas irresistible 14 year

23:23

old dancer standing tall at 3 feet 3

23:27

inches all-in-all Liu is een Havemeyer

23:30

collected the largest and most complete

23:33

collection of de gAHS work ever form and

23:35

all of this really for the Metropolitan

23:38

I mean the Metropolitan was always in in

23:41

her mind as the ultimate recipient of

23:43

the collection Museum is really a

23:47

collection of collections as a result we

23:50

have sweeps of objects that really tell

23:52

a story in a more complex and complete

23:55

manner than if we were to buy a single

23:57

example the Met is a vast storehouse of

24:01

art knowledge and inspiration it's a

24:05

place to return to over and over again

24:08

to savor in small doses to lose yourself

24:12

in thought or to immerse yourself in the

24:15

wonders of human creativity once you

24:18

become comfortable you'll discover again

24:21

think the things that mean most to you

24:22

you could indeed come back again and

24:25

again and again over the years and learn

24:27

something new every single time it is

24:30

only a short walk from Jackson Pollock's

24:33

autumn rhythm to the abstract elegance

24:35

of Egyptian hieroglyphs from an indian

24:39

goddess parvati tacticians Venus and

24:41

Adonis from a bronze head by Picasso to

24:45

a West African relic

24:48

the met is in fact several museums in

24:51

one nothing that's one of his great

24:53

advantages because it means that you can

24:56

make those wonderful comparisons

24:58

opposition's contrasts it's all there

25:02

and one is traveling the globe

25:13

since its founding in 1870 the

25:17

Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York

25:19

City has amassed a most impressive

25:21

collection of art in the Western

25:23

Hemisphere the Met has under one roof

25:27

absolutely every civilization every

25:30

culture for 5,000 years of recorded

25:32

history and that is absolutely unique

25:34

the aura that is conveyed is one of

25:38

majesty walk into that Great Hall with

25:41

its flowers and people and high ceilings

25:43

and it's a monumental space and it

25:46

speaks of the ages it is also dynamic

25:50

constantly enriching its collections the

25:52

permanent collection here is

25:54

extraordinary you come here you don't

25:57

see a painting by Ruben you see a

26:00

gallery full you see early works and

26:03

ladies you see the earliest and the

26:05

latest you the visitor may say I don't

26:09

see much in this well that may very well

26:12

be there is no right and there is no

26:14

wrong and what the art museum does is it

26:17

awakens in the visitor it sends the

26:19

critical evaluation

26:25

in the 130 plus years of our history the

26:30

mission the chartered bylaws museum has

26:32

scarcely changed remains to acquire to

26:36

preserve to publish and to make

26:38

accessible the great art of the world in

26:41

1870 this Roman sarcophagus was the very

26:44

first object to enter the collections of

26:47

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art

26:49

from there bloom the Mets magnificent

26:52

Greek and Roman Department here the

26:54

ancient Mediterranean world comes alive

26:56

in bronze terracotta jewelry glass and

27:01

marble the Joe Harris gallery paves the

27:04

way is wonderful vaulted gallery are

27:08

flooded with light we're from one moment

27:11

of the day to the other the sculpture

27:13

changes is the knight sculpt the

27:16

sculptures and it was a timelessness of

27:18

Greek art and Roman art which I think

27:21

encourages us to look at them over and

27:24

over again like the image on this

27:26

terracotta vase attributed to the

27:28

classical Greek painter you fro Gnaeus

27:30

you fron is arguably the most noble and

27:35

the most accomplished of the early bred

27:37

figure painters the way the composition

27:39

is framed by two standing figures the

27:42

balance of the red

27:44

the black and the beautiful use of

27:47

ornaments the scene depicts the hero

27:49

Sarpedon being carried from the

27:51

battlefield by the personifications of

27:54

sleep and death it is a noble grand

27:57

scene the Greeks learned monumental

28:00

sculpture for the most part from Egypt

28:03

the ancient Egyptian influence on Greek

28:05

sculpture is evident in the rigid pose

28:08

of early male figures known as qu ROI

28:10

which often marked graves and ours is

28:13

one of the earliest to have survived in

28:16

good condition and each generation shows

28:18

the male figure in a more naturalistic

28:21

portrayal by the fifth century BC Greek

28:25

sculptors had perfected classical form

28:27

here is the wounded warrior it's a bold

28:30

composition figure in great action and

28:33

yet we know that he's about to collapse

28:36

most Greek sculptures survived today

28:39

through marble copies made by Roman

28:41

artists the Greek originals were bronze

28:44

and were melted down or rusted away but

28:47

the Romans were artists in their own

28:48

right this row of portrait busts

28:51

represents 300 years of Roman sculpture

28:54

from the first century to the fourth you

28:56

can in a way see that the old Gamlen of

28:58

the Roman Empire on one fell swoop so

29:02

powerful is the classical tradition of

29:04

Greece and Rome that for more than 2,000

29:07

years it has defined the Western view of

29:09

beauty this great 19th century work by

29:12

Antonio Canova shows Perseus son of Zeus

29:15

holding the head of Medusa whose gaze

29:18

could turn mortals to stone the Perseus

29:22

is one of the great sculptures the new

29:24

Classical period both in terms of its

29:27

artistry

29:28

purity of line and I think it holds a

29:31

position of great honor and Majesty in

29:34

the middle of that court Perseus is male

29:37

body beautiful from the Western point of

29:40

view here is the Asian Indian ideal of

29:43

female perfection the shapely figure of

29:47

the celestial dancing devata is

29:48

beautiful though her contorted pose is

29:51

utterly fantastic ancient Indian

29:54

sculpture from the area now known as

29:55

Pakistan reflects the definite influence

29:58

of the West most likely the results of

30:01

Alexander the Great's conquests or first

30:04

century trade with Rome in striking

30:07

contrast is the pure Indian aesthetic

30:10

developed around the fifth century

30:11

during India's Classical Age the Gupta

30:14

period the Gupta period is a period of

30:17

transformation where finally Indian art

30:21

really comes into its own

30:22

this Gupta Buddha is one of the great

30:25

icons of Indian art the nose like a

30:29

parrot's beak the eyebrows like an

30:31

archers bow the folds of the robe

30:34

although you sense the body beneath

30:38

there's also the sense of this

30:41

dematerialization that's going on in

30:43

front of you the unique artistic

30:45

vocabulary of literary metaphors is

30:49

fully realized in this superb bronze of

30:51

the hindu goddess parvati in this case

30:55

you'll notice the extremely narrow waist

30:57

which is likened to a damaru

31:00

a kind of an Indian drum that's that is

31:03

hourglass shaped the breasts are like

31:06

ripe melon

31:08

the head is like an egg the left arm is

31:13

like an elephant's trunk there's almost

31:15

no sign of the elbow

31:18

not all sculpture at the Met is metal or

31:20

stone these three-dimensional treasures

31:23

were sculpted from cloth in the Mets

31:26

Costume Institute conservators care for

31:29

a collection of clothing that spans

31:31

seven centuries and five continents what

31:35

we do here is interpret of these objects

31:38

as our this is really really typical of

31:40

the 18th century where the interior the

31:42

Mets costume art collection contains

31:44

nearly 80,000 individual pieces from

31:48

fashionable dress and regional clothing

31:50

to shoes undergarments and even buttons

31:55

and people are always really shocked

31:56

because of the size but at this time

31:58

men's buttons were enormous and they're

32:00

really a large decorative element on a

32:04

tailcoat this row of eighteenth-century

32:06

court dresses is ready for inspection

32:08

and conservation this fabric alone was

32:12

very very closely you can see all the

32:13

gold and the silver in the 18th century

32:17

there was a spectacular manifestation of

32:21

women's dress called the panty 8 gown we

32:25

have an English Court gown with the most

32:27

extraordinary of elbow shaped panties

32:31

they stick straight out out of the side

32:33

of the waist

32:35

and drop straight down on either side

32:37

the Costume Institute at the Met seeks

32:40

out master works of clothing and design

32:42

that advance the art of fashion but that

32:46

doesn't mean to say that we don't also

32:47

enjoy hearing someone say I would never

32:50

wear that or I would love to wear

33:01

built on the shoulders of capitalism the

33:04

Metropolitan Museum of Art owes many of

33:07

its treasures to the enormous wealth and

33:09

generosity of America's captains of

33:12

business and industry and many of them

33:14

in fact formed their collections with

33:17

the Metropolitan in mind financial giant

33:20

Robert leamon spent a lifetime

33:22

assembling what would become one of the

33:24

greatest private collections of the 20th

33:26

century Robert leamon and his father

33:28

Philips we're collectors on a very grand

33:32

scale and its collection which stands on

33:35

its own in its own wing at the Met

33:38

the Lehmann collection is uniquely

33:41

displayed in rooms that evoke the

33:42

setting of a private home you can put

33:45

yourself in any of the armchairs in

33:47

liman wing stay there as long as you

33:49

please and imagine that you too have an

33:51

El Greco over the fireplace there are

33:53

very few categories of art that are left

33:55

out of the Lehmann collection Lehman's

33:58

personal favorite was this portrait

34:01

by the 19th century French artist hang

34:04

the ank portrait of the priceless debris

34:07

is widely considered one of the most

34:09

beautiful paintings in the world all the

34:12

textures and details portrayed with such

34:15

brilliant accuracy as to leave almost

34:18

nothing to the imagination but in the

34:20

most positive possible sense

34:22

Lehman's real passion was art by the

34:25

italian painters of the early

34:26

renaissance preeminent among them

34:29

Botticelli early Italian artists were

34:32

restrained not only by their subject

34:34

matter religion but also by their medium

34:37

they paid it mostly on wood with tempera

34:39

a mixture of pigment water and egg yolk

34:42

but superior skills and fertile

34:45

imaginations triumphed over the

34:47

limitations of the paint and surface

34:50

here Giovanni DePaulo depicts two scenes

34:53

from the 15th century view of the

34:55

universe the creation and the expulsion

34:58

in the center of the painting is a small

35:02

disc which represents earth around earth

35:05

are the spheres of the four elements and

35:08

the known planets

35:09

and God the Father on a cloud of angels

35:12

floats in from the left and sets all the

35:15

spheres in motion which will initiate

35:17

the cycle of creation painted barely

35:21

five years later but a world away the

35:24

detailed sophistication of this painting

35:26

by Flemish artist Petrus Christus was

35:29

due in part to the recent invention of

35:31

oil paint which would revolutionize the

35:33

Western art world titled st. Eligius the

35:37

patron saint of Goldsmith's it shows a

35:39

young couple come to seek a wedding ring

35:41

a mirror reflects to on lookers outside

35:44

behind the goldsmith our rings coral

35:47

crystal cups gold work the sort of thing

35:50

that you would find in Tiffany's five

35:52

hundred years ago of the Dutch and

35:55

Flemish I would say that there is much

35:57

more emphasis upon rendering the

36:01

surfaces the the material has about it a

36:05

kind of heightened realism perhaps the

36:07

most inspired early practitioner of

36:10

painting with oils was Yann Van Eyck his

36:14

crucifixion and Last Judgement hang in

36:16

the Mets comprehensive European painting

36:19

department in his hands painting in oil

36:22

is raised to perfection and with oil

36:26

glazes he's able to describe with his

36:29

brush unbelievable details the rural

36:34

life is the subject of Pieter Bruegel's

36:36

masterpiece the harvesters the artist is

36:40

no longer using a religious subject to

36:43

show a landscape these are working

36:45

people peasants who have been taking a

36:48

break for their noonday meal and some of

36:51

my fall asleep and you can see them

36:54

stretched out on the hay

36:56

and extraordinary details throughout the

36:59

entire picture the 17th century was the

37:02

Golden Age of Dutch and Flemish painting

37:04

the period of the old masters the Met

37:07

has rooms filled with Rembrandt Rubens

37:10

and the rarest of all Vermeer if you

37:13

come to the Met you don't see one

37:15

Vermeer you see five it's extraordinary

37:19

you see one of the earliest known works

37:21

and you see a very characteristic label

37:22

and then you see a one of the greatest

37:25

of all which is the woman with the

37:27

silver jug he's able in the small canvas

37:31

to describe this entire world centered

37:34

around this woman as she's doing her

37:36

household chores in this beautiful light

37:39

that illuminates the scene the miracle

37:42

of oil spread throughout Europe from

37:45

Titian and Raphael in Italy della tour

37:48

and Posada in France to diego velázquez

37:52

in spain every painter who's lived

37:55

admires the way he handled a brush

37:59

while in Rome Velasquez painted his

38:01

Moorish servant as a warm-up exercise

38:04

for a planned portrait of the Pope he's

38:07

actually stroking the canvas with the

38:10

brush he's not using even a palette in

38:12

order to mix the colors he mixed the

38:15

colors directly on the canvas next to

38:19

where the mantle of master in Spain was

38:21

Court painter Francisco Goya the child

38:24

looks out kind of innocently there is

38:29

evil in the painting you can see in the

38:31

shadows these sinister eyes of these

38:35

cats that want to jump on the on the

38:38

birds and eat them by the 18th century

38:40

the practice of oil painting had been

38:43

nearly universal for 100 years but

38:47

artists working in America had some

38:49

catching up to do in colonial times John

39:01

Singleton Copley America's first

39:03

significant native-born artist

39:05

successfully modeled his likenesses of

39:07

America's elite after works by English

39:10

masters despite his lack of formal

39:12

training the only thing about this

39:14

picture that is unique to mrs. Bowers is

39:17

the face we know that her dress her dog

39:20

her sofa her landscape even her hairdo

39:22

and her jewelry come from a painting by

39:25

Sir Joshua Reynolds of Lady Caroline

39:28

Russell and Copley understood his

39:30

colonial patrons wanted to keep up with

39:33

fashion ability of their London

39:35

neighbors until the 19th century most

39:39

American painters either weren't

39:41

Americans by birth or they trained in

39:43

Europe which means that the works that

39:45

they painted upon their return are

39:47

necessarily international in flavor this

39:51

would include the great portrait of

39:52

George Washington by Charles Wilson

39:55

Peale who studied in London prior to

39:57

fighting in the Revolutionary War and

39:58

this familiar image by Gilbert Stuart by

40:02

the time he was a teenager he had left

40:04

for England and didn't come back for 20

40:07

years he returned in 1793 to paint the

40:11

nation's founding father and greatest

40:13

hero American Thomas Sully aimed to

40:16

paint true royalty Queen Victoria this

40:20

small canvas is the oil study that Sully

40:23

carried back and forth to Buckingham

40:25

Palace for his sittings with the Queen

40:27

beside it hangs the finished masterpiece

40:30

Sully was the first American painter to

40:33

portray Queen Victoria

40:36

he found her so delightful and charming

40:38

that he wrote in his diary that he he

40:42

hoped that he could give us

40:44

the the kind manner and dignity of the

40:48

young Queen born in England but long

40:50

resident in Philadelphia sully worked

40:53

three of the conventions that tied

40:54

English court painters this isn't to say

40:57

that he painted a rakish image but the

40:59

idea that Queen Victoria would be

41:01

literally ascending the throne climbing

41:04

the staircase up to the throne and

41:06

looking back over her bare shoulder is

41:08

really extraordinary the best of late

41:12

19th century American portraiture tends

41:14

to be something more than

41:15

straightforward likenesses even realist

41:19

Thomas Eakins seems to paint

41:20

psychological profiles this portrait of

41:23

his wife was reworked to increase the

41:25

pathos of her expression the master of

41:28

American portraiture was John Singer

41:31

Sargent his provocative painting madam x

41:34

is the anchor work in a gallery devoted

41:36

to images of society folk what's such a

41:39

stunningly beautiful and striking image

41:42

just like the woman was herself

41:44

the woman was Madame Gautreaux the New

41:47

Orleans born wife of a French banker she

41:49

became one of the most notorious

41:51

beauties of Paris in the 1880s the short

41:55

version of the story is that when

41:56

Sargent painted at the shoulder strap of

41:59

the dress that she's wearing was falling

42:00

down off one arm and that and itself

42:03

created such a degree of attention that

42:06

he was asked to fix the strap to put it

42:08

back on her shoulder when sergeant sold

42:11

Madame X to the Met in 1916 he supposed

42:15

it was the best work he'd ever done

42:25

initially scorned by the establishment

42:28

the impressionist painters of the late

42:30

19th century are now universally admired

42:32

as the first true expressions of the

42:34

modern spirit the Annenberg collection

42:38

at the Met boasts over 50 impressionist

42:40

and early modern masterpieces Renoir van

42:44

Gogh began Braque and this early

42:48

self-portrait by Picasso the collection

42:51

was built with the fortune made by

42:53

publishing magnate Walter Annenberg

42:54

creator of TV Guide by the time the Anna

42:58

Birds began collecting in earnest in the

43:00

1960s and 70s these artists were very

43:04

famous very expensive artists the

43:07

annenberg contributed more than a half

43:09

dozen of Van Gogh's works to the museum

43:11

in the 1990s complementing other

43:14

paintings by Van Gogh already in the

43:16

Mets permanent collection a visitor here

43:19

can come across the rather rude

43:22

beginnings of Van Gogh's art that

43:25

earnest self-taught struggling artist

43:29

who became ultimately a consummate

43:32

technician

43:34

the crowning glory came in 1993 when

43:37

Walter Annenberg and his wife Lea

43:39

acquired wheat field with cypresses for

43:42

the met it's one of the great paintings

43:44

of the 19th century it's one of the

43:46

sublime works of Van Gogh the strong

43:51

colors the artists touch the impasto you

43:54

can see the visible traces of the

43:56

artists work left on the canvas

43:59

grains of seed that were literally

44:02

blowing in the wind that day so fresh

44:04

was the paint and so fervid was his

44:06

painting manner that these seeds were

44:09

embedded in the paint surface this was a

44:11

picture also from the point of view of

44:14

Van Gogh's own career that emerged out

44:16

one of the darkest moments of his life

44:18

in 1889 he summarizes his own discovery

44:22

of the importance of Cyprus it's

44:25

symbolism representing death the Cypress

44:28

appearing in all of the cemeteries

44:30

France and also that soaring shape

44:34

leading to the skies and to heaven the

44:38

great masters of any time or place

44:40

strive not to copy but to create their

44:44

own unique visions which is why there

44:46

will always be something called modern

44:48

art at the Met modern art begins with

44:52

the 20th century a stroll through the

44:54

galleries reveals an astonishing

44:56

diversity of creative expression given

44:58

to the human form Modigliani

45:00

Miro Picasso early twentieth-century

45:05

modernists pursuing cubism and Fauvism

45:08

were intrigued by the unfamiliar ways in

45:12

which primitive cultures depicted the

45:14

human form the influence of African

45:17

masks is evident in this bronze by

45:19

picasso african masks made to propitiate

45:22

the gods have a tremendous power but

45:26

they are also harbingers of some of the

45:28

best abstract art created in the West

45:31

which is why people like Park can

45:33

because so connected

45:34

African mats this finely carved ivory

45:38

mask is from the 16th century West

45:40

African kingdom of Benin it's believed

45:43

to portray the mother of the Oba or

45:45

ruler we basically in this museum see to

45:48

include the art of the entire world and

45:51

the arts of Africa Oceania and the

45:53

Americas represent a very significant

45:54

portion of that art and this actually

45:56

includes most of the arts and cultures

45:58

of the world our holdings in the arts of

46:02

Africa Oceania and Mesoamerica opened

46:05

the eye to the ineluctable fact that it

46:10

is in a nature of man to want to express

46:14

themselves even in the most ordinary

46:16

objects in in an aesthetic way in the

46:20

early 20th century these objects were

46:23

regarded as ethnographic material better

46:25

suited for a Natural History Museum but

46:28

New York politician Nelson Rockefeller

46:30

saw them as art as did his son Michael

46:33

and Michael was very enthusiastic about

46:35

his father's passion for art

46:37

particularly art from the Pacific and so

46:39

after he graduated from college he

46:41

decided that he was going to go

46:42

personally to New Guinea which he did it

46:45

ultimately cost him his life reportedly

46:48

in 1961 he tried to swim ashore when the

46:50

motor on his boat failed his body was

46:53

never found the Michael C rockefeller

46:55

wing at the Met opened in 1982 some of

46:58

the most striking pieces were collected

47:00

by Michael himself Michael spent some

47:03

time in the highlands of New Guinea but

47:04

he spent the majority of his time down

47:06

with the Asmat people the Asmat people

47:09

are prolific and accomplished wood

47:11

carvers they are also headhunters

47:14

the towering beach poles form one of the

47:17

most dramatic displays I think in the

47:18

entire museum the figure at the top

47:21

represents an Asmat warrior recently

47:23

killed in battle each pole is carved

47:25

from a single upside-down tree while the

47:29

top of the tree points to the ground the

47:30

remaining root representing the phallus

47:32

of the pole is fashioned into a

47:34

projecting wing with intricate carvings

47:36

of enemies killed by the warrior so in a

47:39

way the carvings can be said to

47:41

represent a resume in Oceania there are

47:44

1200 different cultures and languages

47:46

and hundreds of religions and artistic

47:49

traditions a common practice in oceanic

47:51

cultures was ancestor worship now these

47:54

may be fantastic creatures but the

47:56

people who create them these are what

47:58

these beings look like from the

47:59

polynesian islands this giant slit gong

48:02

is basically a musical instrument a wide

48:05

hollowed-out tree trunk forms the body

48:07

of the ancestor Hara surrounds the face

48:10

with its large plate like eyes and a

48:12

long slit mouth down the front there was

48:15

often a special carver who made only the

48:18

nose one of the things that I always

48:20

asked myself was why would somebody make

48:23

an image like this the questions like

48:25

the world of art itself are never-ending

48:28

the Metropolitan Museum of Art's mission

48:31

requires that it remain a

48:33

work-in-progress no Museum in the world

48:37

stops connecting no matter how much you

48:41

have there are always gaps one never has

48:44

so complete a picture that you can

48:46

simply close the book will never know

48:49

everything that of course is the joy of

48:51

scholarship there's always something

48:52

else

48:53

and to know that's the wonder of works

48:55

of art their unfathomable you cannot

48:58

complete them you cannot complete them

49:04

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provided by the Eureka foundation

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