A few weeks ago I was assigned a paper from art history class. I had to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, pick a painting from the European Paintings sections and it and my museum experience. The day that I went, September 15th was a Friday so I was surprised to see that there were a lot of people at the museum. I have visited The MET several times and the atmosphere there is always lively. There were a lot of people sitting on the steps of the front entrance even though it was a hot and sunny day. There were also a lot of artists and street vendors trying to sell their artwork and souvenirs. Over the top of the entrance I noticed that there were 6 portraits of artist sculpted into the front, although I could only identify two artists, Michelangelo and Albrecht Dürer, the other four artists must have also made significant contributions to art to be on the main entrance.
Inside the lobby, I noticed that it was very crowded and noisy. However, inside the galleries it was very quiet. I saw that there were people, usually in pairs, actually looking at and discussing the paintings. The painting that I chose was in the Jayne Wrightsman Gallery, where there was a lot of French Neo Classical artworks. It is a portrait of Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier and His Wife by Jacques-Louis David. I chose the painting because of its size and frame. It is one of the largest paintings in the room and it has a lavishly decorated frame compared to the other simpler frames in the room. After I was done viewing the painting I decided to stay and visit the other sections of the museum. From this experience, I learned that looking at art in person is better than looking at it from a computer screen because there are so many small details that one would not see through a screen. 
