I must be the only student in the entire Macaulay Honors College who has a Friday class that goes into the late afternoon. Because of it, I missed going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with the class when they went on that Friday-schedule Tuesday; however, I did eventually go to the museum on my own. I saw the Frans Hals exhibit and thanks to a handy audio guide (which was probably not as engaging as the tour guide who showed the rest of the class around) I even learned a little bit more about the artist, his techniques, and his bourgeoisie subjects. While touring the exhibit, I was completely struck by how realistic Hals’ depiction of his subjects was. I felt like I was looking at photographs. The depictions were so precise and so lifelike that I felt as if the subjects could climb out of their picture frames and blend right into the crowds of New York City (after they changed their clothes, of course).

After I finished touring the Frans Hals exhibit, I was in the mood to visit another exhibit—something I had never had the opportunity to see on previous visits to the museum. I checked the museum map and was very pleased to discover that there was a small exhibit of art from Nepal just above my head. I had just finished reading an ethnography about the people of Nepal for my cultural anthropology course, and I thought this would be the perfect way to gain an even better understanding of their culture. The artwork I found on the third floor of the museum was completely different from anything Frans Hals had created during his time. I would be truly frightened if I happened upon any of the subjects of the Nepalese art while walking down the street.

While the Dutch master’s artwork was realistic to the point of banality, the Nepalese artwork was anything but. As I walked through the small exhibit, bizarre creatures stared down at me from the carved ceiling above my head. Many-armed goddesses wielded bows and swords and maces against fanged and clawed demons repeatedly within glass cases and on hanging tapestries. Meditating buddhas filled the stifling air with their ancient prayers while at the same time supporting tabletops and cabinets on their heads. The art was beautiful to look at, especially the statues and statuettes that depicted the mythological goddesses with such precision; however, the subject matter was otherworldly. I can only begin to imagine what Hals’ reaction would have been had Shiva the Destroyer approached the artist and asked for his portrait to be painted.