Metropolitan Museum of Art

Tim and I spent much of today at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. One of the temporary exhibits that I was most interested in was “Sargent & Paris.” This exhibit traced the early career of American painter John Singer Sargent from the time he arrived in Paris in 1874 as a young student through the mid-1880s, when his infamous portrait Madame X created such a scandal at the Paris Salon.

Although I checked out his earlier portraits, it was Madame X, one of my favorite paintings, that I focused on. The exhibit not only displayed the finished portrait, but also many of Sargent’s preparatory drawings and sketches, showing the evolution of this amazing painting.

Sargent & Paris and the Various Stages of Madame X

I love the American Wing at the Met, but I was not feeling well when we arrived there, so I found a seat while Tim wandered through the rooms. I was sorry to miss seeing some of my favorite works.

I did manage to take a look at the Frank Lloyd Wright Room, the living room from the grand Francis W. Little House that was built in Wayzata, Minnesota in 1912–14. I never found out what had happened to the house and how the room ended up at the Met.

Frank Lloyd Wright Room

After a nice lunch, Tim and I toured the Art of the Ancient Americas galleries, which had recently reopened after four years of renovation. We were especially interested in the art of ancient civilizations of today's Peru, since we will be spending several weeks there in December. The gold, silver, ceramic, and textile items that we saw clearly demonstrated the sophistication of the many societies that flourished in the Americas long before European colonization.

Items from Today's Peru in the Art of the Ancient Americas Galleries