After seeing the Dekooning exhibit, I traversed the city and went to the Met. Since it is one of my favorite buildings in New York, I had to see something there to help me appreciate Dekooning. After already seeing the Flemish paintings with Frans Halls, and having already visited (and posted) about the modern exhibition in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I went for an earlier exhibit. I chose the Greek and Roman galleries. These galleriers are some of the most famous galleries in the Museum.
Beginning on the first floor, the first gallery that many people visit is the Greek and Roman Art gallery on the left of the Great Hall entranceway. This is a fantastic gallery filled with many of the famous statues and artifacts of the ancient Greeks and Romans. These galleries were underwent renovation that was completed in 2007. The museum is now able to exhibit almost all of the 5,000 works of art that it has in its collection . What people do not usually see, are the galleries of the Greek and Roman Art that are off to the sides of the main exhibit.
A few of the famous innovations of the Romans are the four styles of wall painting. The Museum has an amazing reconstruction of two of the different styles located in galleries 165 and 167. An example of the second style is a wall painting taken from the Roman villa of P. Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale. The walls are decorated so beautifully with rich color and scenery, it is impressive merely in its ability to maintain its vibrancy. This style of wall painting is the most dramatic and contains a narrative. The third style, located down the hall from its predecessor, is from the villa of Agrippa Postumus at Boscoreale. This style is famous for its monochrome color and subtle decoration. Its beauty is in its intricate designs. After gazing at the many gorgeous Greek gods and goddesses, walk to the wall paintings; you will not be disappointed.
I thought to look at this gallery after the Dekooning exhibit, because most of the western world artwork is based of the Greco-Roman tradition. I specifically decided to look at the wall paintings because as Shane mentioned, Dekooning designed his paintings for interior design. It was interesting to see the ancient style of room decoration.
