Met inspiration 1

It was a gloomy and wet day in the Big Apple yesterday and I couldn't have been happier. As far as Aunty Jo-jo was concerned, it was a perfect museum day. Not just any museum, but the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The exciting collection ranges from Egyptian to Byzantine to modern art.

When I arrived at 9:30am, the queues at all four ticket counters were already snaking round the Great Hall. So I decided to make a $50 donation and become an Associate Member. That meant free entry for a year, free audio guide and best of all - no queues!

Despite its vastness, there was only place to start. The 19th & 20th century European art collection on the second floor. All the masterpieces that I'd only ever seen between the pages of a book - up till now. Oh...how my soul sang when I entered the galleries echoing Constable, Turner, Manet, Monet, Pissaro, Degas and Van Gogh.

Allow me to humbly share some of the inspiration with you.

Camille Pissarro

To my delight, I found a room full of Camille Pissarro's works. I first encountered this post-Impressionist artist at the Musee de Orsay in Paris. His colourful pastoral scenes have always evoked a sense of peaceful pleasure. Imagine my surprise when I found out yesterday that he was a sworn anarchist!

Vincent Van Gogh

The intensity of Van Gogh's work is captured wonderfully in the Cypresses painting, which is the Met's pride and joy. He worked on this piece during his last summer at the asylum at St Remy. By then, Van Gogh had perfected his style of vibrant colours and aggressive brushstrokes, as can be seen in the swirling sky above the cypresses & wheat fields. Another composition I saw for the first time were that of late sunflowers, one of his favourite subjects.

Claude Monet

The Japanese Bridge over the Lily Pond is one of the world's favourite Impressionist paintings. Mine too. A print of it hung in my bedroom at Birmingham University for the duration of my graduate studies. As trite as this may sound, seeing the original colours and textures with my own eyes was a such a joy. I was also fascinated by a light study of the Rouen Cathedral in the same gallery.