My Highlights Tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
In the American Wing with a large number of Visitors on one of my weekend Highlights Tours
One of the great joys of my life is my work as a Docent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The word ‘Docent’ comes from the Latin “Docere” (to teach). Museum docents function as educationists who open up a world of Art History and Visual Comprehension to visitors.
When my daughter Chriselle left home for college and my duty as a full-time Mom was over, I decided to devote some of my time as a volunteer in the pursuit of one of the great loves of my life–Art–in the kind of environment in which I have always thrived–Museums. While some people might feel gratified in a shopping mall and others in a baseball stadium, my greatest sense of fulfillment comes from a day well-spent in a museum for I see it as an chance to enrich my knowledge of the world’s history while developing a sense of aesthetics.
Until I began my rigorous year-long training under some of the most perceptive curators in the world at the “Met” (as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is known), I was completely self-taught in Art Appreciation. My interest in Art was first piqued when I watched the entire screening of Kenneth Clarke’s series of TV shows called “Civilization” on Bombay TV while I was a fifteen-year old high-school student in India. I remember feeling deeply uplifted by the visuals, by his succinct and erudite commentary and by the classical music in the background that seemed to cast a spell over the works on view. Then, when I was eighteen and still lived in Bombay, I moved to a new neighborhood in suburban Bandra where my neighbor, an American named Roberta Skaggs Naik, was an artist herself who had majored in Art History in college in the United States. The bookshelves in her home were full of glossy, coffee-table editions of Art reproductions and I poured over these treasures for hours while furthering my knowldege through long conversations with her. That was my first memorable introduction to Art History.
Over the years, I continued my education in notable Art by touring some of the finest museums in the world–among them, the National Gallery, the Courthault Collection, the Wallace Collection and the two Tate Galleries in London; the Louvre, the Musee D’Orsay, the Centre Georges Pompidour (Modern Art), the Musee Rodin and the Musee Picasso in Paris; the Kuntshistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria; the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam; the Uffizi Museum in Florence and the Vatican Museum in Rome, Italy; the Prado, the Riena-Sophia and the Thyssen Bornemissa Museums in Madrid, Spain; the National Museum in Washington D.C.; and the National Museum in New Delhi, India, not to mention the Museum of Modern Art and the Frick Museum in New York which I adore. In each of these places, I have taken Highlights Tours that have introduced me to the most important works in the collections.
I now feel privileged to have the opportunity at the weekends to share my knowledge with international visitors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since the exhibits at the Met change periodically, our on-going training continues year-round, allowing me to constantly add to my fund of knowledge about great art.
For more information about the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York , please visit their website:
My Highlights Tour A
Follow me now as I take you on a tour of some of my own favorite works of art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
This is the point where my Tour of the Met begins. Visitors assemble at the “Clock” on the main floor of the museum where I give a brief Introduction to the History of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David in the European Paintings Gallery.
The Standing Gupta Buddha in the South Asian Gallery.
In the Ming Scholar’s Garden of the Astor Court
In the American Wing with the painting entitled Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emmanuel Leutze.
In the American Wing’s Charles Engelhart Courtyard with the Autumn Landscape Window in stained glass by Louis Comfort Tiffany–my very favorite exhibit at the Met.
In the American Paintings Wing explaining The Panorama of Versailles by John Van der Lynn
At the Egyptian Temple of Dendur–the last stop on the Highlights Tour
My Highlights Tour B
I give two Highlights tours at the Metropolitan Musuem, each of which is completely different from the other. If you would like to follow me aroudn on Highlights Tour B please click here.