MET Moments

For my outside arts event, I decided on the MET. I had never been to the MET and I had tried to go once, but unfortunately when I finally arrived they were closed and I never tried again. They have a wide array of different art pieces and so I thought this would be a great chance to look at any art piece that I liked. My favorite art pieces are those that have to do with nature so those are the ones that I focused on.

The first art piece that I liked was View Of Toledo by El Greco. The Gallery Label stated “In this, his greatest surviving landscape, El Greco portrays the city he lived and worked in for most of his life.” The reason this painting really stood out to me is the way El Greco painted the sky over the city. The sky seemed to act as a veil of darkness covering the whole city. In addition, the city seemed to get darker as you go more in depth. The grass began to die, becoming duller, and the whole painting became almost black as you go further into the painting. The road was winding into the painting. This gave me a sense of difficulty and hardship and a negative feeling of the whole city. It seemed as if the further you went into the city(painting), the more difficult it was to leave and the worse it seemed.

The next painting was a View Of La Crescenza by Claude Lorrain. The gallery label stated “In its immediacy and breadth of handling, this small picture recalls drawings that Claude made from nature in the environs of Rome.” I really liked this painting. It was of trees, hills, grass and other vegetation with a fortress in the background. Even though it was in the background, the main focus of the painting seemed to be the fortress. It was almost as if the fortress was welcoming but at the same time depicted safety from enemies. In the front, there were four trees however, they seemed to bend exposing a passageway to the fortress. This contrasted with the previous painting because it used mostly light vs. dark contrast.

Last but not least, I saw The Titan’s Goblet. This painting really stood out to me since the subject seemed so unusual. In the painting, there was a huge Goblet to the right, with a small sea in front of it and mountains in the background. The nature around the Goblet seemed much smaller compared to the Goblet. The goblet was filled to the top with water and it seemed very old since it was covered in vegetation and water was leaking from cracks in the goblet. Below the Goblet was a sea with ships. This “human world” seemed much smaller compared to the Goblet. The Goblet also seemed unusual in that it fit in but also did not fit in with the overall painting. The vegetation made it blend in with the nature in the painting, but since it was a Goblet it really stood out.

Overall, I really liked the MET and I recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it yet. This seminar really changed my perspective on art since I probably would have looked at each painting for less than a second before moving on to the next one. This seminar was not only educational but also interesting.

Thank You, Mr. Ugoretz.

P.S If you press the tittle of the painting, it will redirect you to a picture as a reference to what I am discussing.