Today, I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art with a friend. When I first entered the building, I was awestruck by both the sheer size of the lobby and the diversity of exhibits offered on just that floor. Over the next few hours, we wandered through various exhibits, including “Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia”, “Ancient Near Eastern Art”, and “Greek and Roman Art”.
Out of all the galleries we visited, we spent the most time in “Asian Art”, specifically the Florence and Herbert Irving Asian Wing, mostly because I was eager to find a Malaysian exhibit (since my family is from Malaysia). Even though I did not find one, I was not disappointed by what we found instead: assorted Buddha sculptures reflecting different cultures such as Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, and China. I was especially fascinated by “Buddha 2”, a sculpture by Cambodian artist Sopheap Pich that was constructed using rattan, wire, and dye. It caught my attention as soon as I entered the room because it was so different from the other Buddha-inspired art I had seen.
By the time we left, I had developed a new respect for art. The entire experience was almost surreal because of how drastically different seeing art in person was compared to seeing it online. With a community as diverse as Baruch’s, it is important to learn about and appreciate other cultures, and I feel that this trip helped me to do just that.
Even though we spent over three hours at the museum, we barely visited half of all the exhibits they offered! I especially hope to visit “The American Wing” exhibits on all three floors as well as the “Egyptian Art” exhibit on the first floor. I definitely want to come back at some point in the future and see what else the Metropolitan Museum of Art has to offer me.
