I Walked Up The Massive Stone Steps

I start driving, and decide to go to the Museum of Art. I absolutely adore museums, especially art ones. One day, I would love to go to the Art Basel in Miami. 25 minutes later, I enter the Museum of Modern Art. The building is humongous and busy. I walk into the first exhibition, and am already amazed at the art. There are several paintings, and sculptures around the room. One painting catches my eye. It’s an extremely detailed painting of San Francisco. I think it caught my eye, because it reminds me of the view from the hills of Twin Peaks. I head towards the next exhibition, which is just filled with different types of paintings. I see paintings of people, buildings, indoors, and much more. For some unknown reason, my all-time favorite painting is Van Gogh’s self-portrait. I’m not sure why I like it so much, but I do. I also really love his painting called “Starry Night”. It gives me a calm, positive vibe. I walk towards the café in the museum to grab a snack before I leave. Before I arrive to the museum. I noticed Union Square about 10 minutes behind, so I decide to go there. I’ve also seen the Union Square in movies, but it looks much more extensive in person. I slowly walk around to check out the busy stores, and restaurants. The stores here definitely look classier, and high-end. The Union Square is certainly my favorite destination in San Francisco today. After a little while of walking around, I feel a little tired, so I walk back towards the car. I sit, and have a few minutes’ rest. Where to now? I read the brochure once more, and see a stunning national park called Yosemite National Park. It has a hotel too, which would be nice to sleep in, instead of my car. It is 3 hours and 40 minutes ahead, so I drive to a nearby petrol station for gas. I fill up my gas tank all the way, and get a few snacks for the 164 miles drive

Never before have I seen a museum as grand as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. From its architecture to its massive art collection, The Met has a little bit of everything and one is sure to find something that captures his or her interest. Considering that The Met is the United States' largest art museum, it is easy to get lost within its many corridors and wings. My visit to The Met took place during the last week of July. Despite the almost unbearable heat and humidity that hung in the air, visiting museums under these climate conditions is a welcome respite from a suffocating, yet bright summer afternoon.

Dionysos is defined as the god of wine, festivity, vegetation, pleasure, and divine intoxication. In the Hope Dionysos, he is depicted as a peaceful and joyful figure that represent happiness in Greek mythology. The statue is sculpted from marble as its medium and is classified as a stone

One pleasant afternoon, my classmates and I decided to visit the Houston Museum of Fine Arts to begin on our museum assignment in world literature class. According to Houston Museum of Fine Art’s staff, MFAH considers as one of the largest museums in the nation and it contains many variety forms of art with more than several thousand years of unique history. Also, I have never been in a museum in a very long time especially as big as MFAH, and my experience about the museum was unique and pleasant. Although I have observed many great types and forms of art in the museum, there were few that interested me the most.

The walls vibrated with colors and the strokes of pencil danced across the pages. Twist and turns of materials displayed in tall glasses cases for all eyes to see. The exhibit for all to see especially the students interested in learning additional information about Latino background. This is how I felt as I walked through Musel del Barrio. I was quite excited to go to the Museo del Barrio because it was one of the museums in New York City that I have not been to. During this semester, my interest in the Nuyorican movement has grown. I was interested in learning more about the movements and the impact the museum had on the community.

New York City, one of the greatest cities of the world, is remarkable because of its history, culture, and diversity. It is world renowned for its skyscrapers, Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Madison Square Garden, Broadway entertainment, Radio City Music Hall, Central Park, and even restaurants specializing in ethnic foods. However, the thing that most intrigues and excites me about New York City is the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Positioned alongside Central Park in the heart of New York City, The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the largest and most influential art museums in the world. The Met houses an extensive collection of curated works that spans throughout various time periods and different cultures. The context of museum, especially one as influential as the Met, inherently predisposes its visitors to a certain set of understandings that subtly influence how they interpret and ultimately construct meanings about each individual object within the museum. Brent Plate in Religion, Art, and Visual Culture argues that “objects obtain different meanings in different locations and historical settings.”An object placed on display behind a glass case inside a museum would hold a vastly different meaning if it was put on sale by a street vendor, like the ones who set up their tables in close proximity to the Met. The different meanings that objects are able to obtain is attributed to the relationships that are established between the object itself and the environment that surrounds it. These relationships often involve the kind of audience that a museum attracts, where the work is exhibited, and how the exhibits within a museum is planned out. Museums subsequently have the ability to control how these relationships are established which influences the way a viewer is able to construct meaning. When a visitor observes an object on display at the Met, they instinctively construct a certain set of

As Edgar Degas once said, “ Art is not what you see, but what others make you see”. The St. Louis Art Museum is a place for artist to display their art and give spectators the option to see art from a new perspective. This was the case for me. As we walked up to the beautifully structured building that stood so tall and wide, my expectations were extremely high. At first glance I notice the bronze statue of King Louis IX of France riding high on his horse. From this statue alone, my expectations of the art museum grew stronger. I have never been to an art museum before, so I wasn’t sure of what to expect. My first expectation was to see huge detailed sculptures right as I walked through the door. That expectation didn’t come true.

I woke up early morning with intentions to catch the train to go to Chicago with my friends. I was filled with partial excitement because we weren’t going to Chicago to visit North Ave or Magnificent Mile, but instead our plans were to visit the Chicago Historical Society. In complete honesty, I felt as though this visit would be a waste of time and money and I wanted to do almost anything but get started on my summer work. So when my friends and I walked in, I looked around with skepticism and a huge groan. However, soon enough my friends and I were going from exhibit to exhibit, reading about the past history and actually enjoying ourselves. I never knew that Chicago held so much history within its streets and buildings, and it was a pleasant surprise that Chicago has much more to it than just towering skyscrapers.

This work of art is a mix of naturalism and verism. The beautiful perfect skin, the appropriately proportional body and the beauty of young Dionysus are much idealized. The god of wine doesn’t have the body structure of an athlete; however, the body features and muscles are quite in proportion and yet humanized. Dionysus’ face is very humanlike because it displays a certain sense of kindness and relaxedness. There is no sign of stress, discomfort, or detachedness on his face. Dionysus has his left leg crossed over his right leg and he is leaning on Pan on his left. Dionysus’ unique pose is a varied version of contrapposto pose which was so common in the High Classical sculptures. This pose means that the weight of the body is supported by one leg, right leg in this case. This pose illustrates relaxed state of mind and makes the audience feel that Dionysus is at ease. He also has his left hand resting on Pan while holding the wine cup. This shows that Dionysus is trusted by Pan and Pan is also trusted by him because Pan has his right arm around Dionysus’ waist. This close distance mainly

With exhibitions of the most thought-provoking art, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago is one of the Nation’s largest facilities devoted to the art of our time (“About the MCA”) . The mission of the MCA is to offer a direct experience to the public of modern day art and living artists. German architect Joseph Paul Kleihues designed the new building with seven times the square feet of its previous facility (“The Building”) . October of 1967 the museum opened its doors to the public for the first time. The Museum of Contemporary Art is a symbol of modern art, culture, and the artist of our time. It is a stepping stone in history and will leave footprints in the heart of Chicago for many generations to come.

“Zeus gave Dionysus to Hermes to protect the baby from Zeus' wife, who was jealous” because Zeus was unfaithful to his wife Hera with Dionysus’s mother, Semele (Bergman). Hermes, the messenger of the Greek gods, is sculpted leaning against what appears to be a tree covered in draping. His right arm, that is broken, reaches upwards as if he is holding something. His left arm, holds a small child, Dionysus, who reaches towards something that Hermes may have been holding. Dionysus is the god of wine and fertility. The tree trunk alludes to symbolism of Dionysus as he is also the god of “things that grow by leaps and bounds suddenly in spring” (Csapo 258). Dionysus was also known for the chaos and parties that would erupt around him. Hermes appears to be looking at Dionysus. They are both sculpted nude as many sculptures of this time were. Hermes’s body language suggests that he is very relaxed. The sculpture also appears to be unfinished and features some “rasp and chisel marks [that] reveal a partial reworking of the back”, as well as, “Traces of red paint may indicate that Hermes' hair, lips, and sandals were gilded originally” (Wilcox Classical Museum). The statue of Hermes and Dionysus laid a foundation for sculpture of the later eras.

Positioned alongside Central Park within the heart of New York City, The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the largest and most influential art museums in the world. The Met houses an extensive collection of curated works that spans throughout various time periods and different cultures. The context of museums, especially one as influential as the Met, inherently predisposes its visitors to a set of understandings that subtly influence how they interpret and ultimately construct meanings about each individual object within a museum. By analyzing two separate works on exhibit at the Met, I will pose the argument that museums offer a unique expression of a world view that is dictated through every element of its construction.

time to visit museums. When public art is funded by the government, the artist’s imagination is

A group of us Arts and Music students used the day on Wednesday to go into the city to visit the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. It was a cold, breezy day so we were all bundled up in jackets and hats. As we got off the E train and walked toward the museum, its appearance was not what I expected it to be. The museum was an elegant, beautiful building made of what looked to be marble; not the big, brick monstrosity I had expected. Once we walked into the museum, it was even more elegant on the inside. The marble staircase had sculptures on each side leading up to the rotunda where white Christmas lights were strung around the banister in decoration for the Christmas season.