Brooklyn Museum Review

Like most of my peers, I was very excited to go to the Brooklyn Museum. I was eager to look at art in a new way and actually talk about the artwork. I had gone to museums before, but I had never done more that look at the art and think to myself what the artist was trying to convey. Unfortunately, I was not able to discuss the artwork the way I wanted. Most of the students in my group had a seminar teacher that set an assignment based on the Brooklyn Museum Event. The professor wanted the students to choose two works of art from different time periods (approximately 100 years apart or so) and discuss the similarities and differences between the two works of art, or something of that nature. Everyone, EVERYONE, in my group had a “lets just get this done” kind of attitude. The way in which we discussed the art was almost sarcastic. We were looking at the art, but only discussing it to fulfill a required assignment. This made anything we understood from the art less authentic and less meaningful. I believe the words, “Lets B.S. about this one next,” were used. I am so angry because I feel robbed of my museum experience. I didn’t even mention that we only visited one floor. My group only visited the “American History” level. It’s not that I did not appreciate or enjoy the American art, but I wanted to explore more and see if art from different cultures could appeal to me as well. As beautiful as the artwork was, I could not fully appreciate it because of my group. However, I did learn a lot. For example, I learned that the museum plays an important role in how the artwork is framed. On the “American History” level, there was a room pained green. I feel like this was done to add to the theme of expansion and manifest destiny that was running through that room. I also noticed that certain pieces are placed next to each other for a reason. One work of art referenced “A Storm in the Rocky Mountains,” and the painting next to it was, “A Storm in the Rocky Mountains.” The two paintings had similar themes and elicited similar ideas. The actual architecture of the museum was also stunning. It reminded me of the coliseum or perhaps a structure from a Greek or Roman myth. Everything was so majestic from the pillars on the outside of the museum to the beautiful chandelier on the inside. Something else I also leaned is that I cannot expect to understand or find every work of art beautiful. I walked into the museum expecting to look at every single work of art and understand it, find it beautiful and figure out why the artist created this work. I now realize that my expectations were unrealistic and almost impossible. I did not fully appreciate every single work of art. However, that made the ones I did understand and find beautiful, that much more special. I will definitely be returning to the Brooklyn Museum, either alone or with a group of friends that want to go to appreciate art fully.