Question

a day at a museum in 250 words

Answer 1

Whether it happens on a school field trip or wandering by chance into a local art museum, everyone has a story about their first memorable encounter with art.

My first experience was actually at the Getty. My mother is one of the Getty Museum’s conservators, and it was because of her that I grew up surrounded by the Getty’s collection. I was maybe three or four (that’s me in the picture above), and I remember being mesmerized by Lawrence Alma-Tadema’s Spring. I imagined myself as one of the little girls carrying a basket of flowers through the marbled streets, and wearing a crown of flowers in my hair.

Answer 2

Since I have been to the museum numerous times in the past I had some assumptions as to what I would experience at the museum when I got there. I knew that the building would be enormous and that there would be many different people there, ranging from students to foreigners. I also was well aware of the plethora of pieces the museum contains. One of the pieces I chose for this paper is a marble statue of the Kouros by Fletcher Fund. The statue is located in the Greek and Roman Art area, which is near the entrance. I knew that I would be able to study the statue from as close or far as I wanted, since they are all standing out in the open rooms of the museum. I chose this statue because it interests me in the way that it resembles Egyptian Art a little more than Greek and Roman Art. I feel this way because when I imagine Greek and Roman sculpture I see very intense and proportional details, that give a feeling of life, almost to the point where a person was put on pause and turned into stone. While with Egyptian art I imagine less detailed sculpture with straight arms at they're side and very stiff looking, showing no life. As I looked at the digital reproduction of the Kouros on the metmuseum.org website, I thought that it would be smooth, detailed, and gray in color, and not so large. All of this was different when I arrived at the museum and saw it in person.Being that I have been to the museum many times, I found myself looking more closely at the architecture of the building. The large open space where many of the life-size statues of this origin were on display resembled the interior of a Greek or Roman Temple. There were large columns bordering either side of every entrance of this room. Complimenting that were the marble floors and walls of the entire place, but there was something even more impressive. The ceiling of this room immediately reminded me of the ceiling in The Pantheon. It was a large dome covering the entire space with an oculus in the center, where light was coming through. Next to the large room that resembled The Pantheon, was the room that housed the Kouros. As I entered it I was disappointed that it did not have the same architectural detail as I expected. It was basically a square and boring room containing many interesting art pieces, pottery and only about five sculptures.When I saw the Kouros, it was located in the direct center of the room. As I studied the Kouros closely, I was surprised to see that what I saw in front of me was very different from the website pictures. When I saw it on the computer as a small picture, it seemed to have more detail than what I saw at the museum. I thought that the chest was more developed and the legs and arms were more proportioned. I also assumed that the face would be in better condition and look more life like. The texture and color of the Kouros was surprisingly different.