maryjanegriggs: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street

This art museum is so overwhelming I'm planning a few visits. Last week I arrived an early hour to meet someone and so had time to enjoy the passing parade of people out the front and swarming through and around the entrance court. To enter you submit your bags to security to be checked but it's all done smoothly. The Museum Shop and Boutique are just amazing. I had plenty of time to check out the absolutely incredible array of jewellery in the smaller boutique before heading to the two level shop which has the most comprehensive range of books I've seen for a while. Merchandising is in the blood here. The entrance fees are recommendations so depending on your state of mind you can pay as little or as much as you want. Lunch in the basement cafeteria where you select from a variety of dishes and then pay by weight was delicious.
The next day I returned early, paid a fair entrance fee and spent the morning concentrating on the temporary exhibition 'Infinite Jest: Caricature and Satire from Leonardo to Levine'. It was wonderful to see drawings and prints by Hogarth, Thomas Rowlandson, James Gillray, William Cruikshank, Daumier and Nadar among others. What a terrific resource for my history course at home. Nearby was another temporary exhibition of contemporary American photography to which I'll return.
With the essential floor plan in hand I accidentally came across the 800's - these rooms house C19th and early C20th European paintings and sculpture. Too much, I had to have a break - these 50 or so rooms deserve a separate visit.
The afternoon was spent with much excitement looking through the 900's. These rooms house the collection of Modern and Contemporary paintings from the late C19th through European, British and American Modernism to some examples of recent artists. I will be re-visiting these rooms as well because after a few hours one finds one's eyes popping out of one'd head!