Vaishnavi Srivastava

13th April, ON THIS DAY

“Museums are wormholes to other worlds. They are ecstasy machines. Follow your eyes to wherever they lead you and the world should begin to change for you.”

—Jerry Saltz

There’s always that one time of year when our phones buzz non-stop and our feed is filled with pictures of celebrities with their maximalist display of fashion. Whether you like it or not, The Met Gala has you invested. So what exactly is the History behind the legendary venue that hosts this extravaganza? Well, for starters, it was established on this very day, on April 13, 1870, in the Dodworth building in New York.

As prominent as the name sounds presently, the Met was not always the prominent centre of art and history that it is right now. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York was essentially formed with a vision to promote art and art history in America. It was initiated by a group of philanthropists, civic leaders, the wealthy, the bourgeoisie businessman and financers. The museum was launched initially with no artwork that belonged to its label. It was gradually that artworks from all around the world started to come into the museum. In 1870, the Met acquired its first artwork, A Roman Marble Sarcophagus from the 3^rd century A.D. In the same year, the museum also gained a total of 174 paintings in total through a private European collection. The museum was adorned by artists such as Van Dyck, Hals, Guardi, Tiepolo and Poussin.

It was in 1880, that the site of the museum was officially relocated to Central Park (present location). The architectural style of the building was inspired by the Gothic Revival genre of design. The building is a scenic beauty that presents grand imagery as soon as an individual sets their eyes upon it. The construction of the building, as it stands in the present day, concluded in 1926. The structure holds grandeur to date, over a century and a half years post its establishment.

The history of the building owes a large part of its contribution to the Impressionist as well as Post-Impressionist artworks – that immerged in the 19^th century Avante Garde movement – which now defines the museum. The Museum holds infamous and treasured paintings of the era of artists such as Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Edouard Manet etc. The galleries dedicated to Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works are in fact the most visited parts of the museum, as art from this era is enjoyed by art scholars and the general public alike.

As previously mentioned, the Metropolitan Museum of Art is also famously known for hosting the infamous “Met Gala” which is essentially an exclusive event hosted by the Met’s Art and Costume Institute. The event is a fundraiser hosted to raise money in order to fund the fashion department of the Met. The fame of the gala, however, is owed to Anna Wintour (the editor-in-chief of Vogue), the lady who changed the trajectory of the gala since she joined the board. Every year the gala announces a theme and the invited celebrities are to showcase their individualities in line with the theme of the gala. This year’s theme is “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty”.

It is evident from the eminent amount of historical significance the Metropolitan Museum of Art holds even to date as it grows progressively with each passing decade. The museum houses some of the most famous artworks in art history from The Death of Socrates (1787) to the Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies (1840-42) by Claude Monet. It’s not just the amalgamation of these artworks that make the Met, it is also the experience of history and curiousness of the artistic minds that makes the museum the monumental structure that it is today.