What’s your reaction?

During your visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, you definitely should consider going on a tour like this one! The tour guide gives its group a lot of outside information about the museum and its exhibits that an ordinary person would not know. The great thing about the Met’s tours is that it covers the entire museum instead of sticking to one exhibit. With a tour every hour, how could you go wrong?

Our Reactions!

This is Venus, oil on panel by Jan Gossart. This caught my eye instantly, not because she was naked but because she had some odd features as Venus. I always thought Venus as a symbol of beauty and femininity, but this Venus has muscles on her body. Her arm looks like a man’s arm, and she has six packs too. Her breasts rather seem artificial and it feels like they are in the wrong place. Also, her feet are very big and seem dirty because of the change in color. Unlike her body, her face represents beauty and youth with erotic overtunes. She is narcissistic, looking at the mirror and much satisfied with her beauty. She is slightly smiling as if she enjoys looking at her face. Or sometimes her face appears like she’s curious and thinking vigorously about something. Contrast to her brightening beauty, there is a fierce helmet at the bottom right side. At instant I thought maybe it’s her lover’s. It’s actually the helmet of Mars, suggesting that the god awaits her in the upstairs room for a lovers’ tryst. I think the painting can be more lively overall with other background color. Black seems too dull to represent Venus.

By just glancing at this work of art, one might miss all the underlying beauties and mysteries behind the stone.  This Greek piece of art is not only simple, but also idealized.  In other words, its depiction has been made timeless.  As we can see, the little girl is pulling a dove into herself.  Every feature within this piece is perfect including the waves within the little girl’s hair and skin. It is strange that although the little girl depicted has the body of a young girl, her face appears to be of an older girl.  The girl, however, looks extremely peaceful as if she is truly in a serene, enjoyable place. It is noticeable that the head of the dove in the girl’s left hand is missing; the head of this dove may have looked back at the little girl.

Normally a piece like this would have a decorative piece on the top of the stone and would have been painted. This piece would have served as what we use as a tombstone.  It is quite amazing that we are still affected and can relate to this piece even though it is over 2500 years old.

This is the actual museum building. It’s huge!!!

Various buildings across the museum

The entrance to the museum. There are lots of tourists from all over the world.

The Kongo Power Figure is an abstract force that represents law. The figure stand tall with its shoulders raised high exuding power in the body. The bent knees show a readiness to spring forward into action. This confident stance is meant to scare people so that they do not attempt to breach social norms. The face is expressive and alert. The eyes seem to be glaring at you, evoking fear. The headgear, or the Apu, is worn as a symbol of leadership. The figures filed teeth are a sign of civilized refinement. Not only the stance of the figure, the long nails sticking out strike fear as well. This figure was used in various rituals including healing the sick and communicating with the dead.  The ritual would be done by sticking nails into the figure, and pouring a potion into its center, each nail representing a vow taken.

From the very first look at this sculpture it is clear to see that Ugolino is having a bad day. The sculpture depicts a story from Dante’s “The Inferno”. Ugolino is condemned to starvation and has to watch as his innocent children and grandchildren die. He looks away because he cannot bear to watch. We see from his facial expression that he is full of torment and suffering. It looks like his sons are begging and pleading with him. We also see that he is biting his fingers out of anguish. The story goes that his sons thought he was eating himself because he was starving, and so they beg their father to eat them instead, and he does.

This sculpture is a great interweaving of figures. The oldest sons body is fully wrapped around his father. From their body language alone we can see the extreme emotional concern between father and son.  Looking towards the back of the sculpture, we see every muscle and vertebrae in Ugolino’s hunched back, showing knots and tension. This sculpture is different from many others of this time period because, though naturalism is portrayed, it does not express idealized bodies. Rather real and dramatic bodies as well as the real horror of the subject.