Tuesday, April 28, 2015

New York City | The Met, the Neue Galerie, Cafe Sabarsky, Bryant Park

Last Saturday was certainly one of my favorite days spent in the New York City.


As part of the course I'm taking, Vienna and the Modern World, we went to see exhibits at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Neue Galerie

Before leaving Newport, I snapped a quick picture of Queen Anne Square when I was getting my Starbucks coffee at 5:45 am--the light was quite beautiful, I almost pulled over several times on Bellevue to take pictures, but I know I would have missed the bus. 

I definitely would have missed the bus.


We started at The Met to view Regimagining Modernism: Expanding the Modern Dialogue. My favorite piece Joan Miro's This Is the Color of My Dreams--it should be noted that the original text in the painting was in French, so that may or may not have influenced my high opinion of it. Since one part of the course focuses on psychology and dreams, Miro's painting captures the inner workings of the subconscious. It goes without saying that the online photo doesn't do it justice.

Of course I waltzed through the European paintings to find the French Impressionists...

"Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lillies," Claude Monet

I took several pictures of artwork--including pieces by Pollock, Monet, Rodin, Degas and others--but I would like to avoid any possibility of being sued by The Met. Their photography policy is pretty strict...


After grabbing lunch at the cafeteria, we walked down the street to the Neue Galerie to see the exhibit on Gustav Klimt and Adele Bloch-Bauer: The Lady in Gold.  Gustav Klimt's "Adele Bloch-Bauer I" was the center of the exhibit, curated alongside it were sketches, jewelry, accessories and bits of history about Klimt and Bloch-Bauer.

The Neue Galerie was also really strict about photos, so here are some photos of "Adele Block-Bauer I" on the Neue Galerie's website.

It turns out Bloch-Bauer embodied Josef Hoffman's concept of das individuelle kleid, individual dress, the idea of nonconforming to the current styles of dress in favor of expressing the self freely and showcasing a more personalized style.


There are two cafes in the Neue Galerie--my friends, our professor and I went to Cafe Sabarsky on the ground floor. The concept of both cafes is to recreate the experience of a Viennese coffee house with contemporary flair.


In the spirit of Klimt, the dessert would have a small fleck of edible gold on it.

After Cafe Sabarsky, Lauren, Courtney and I walked down Fifth Avenue towards Bryant Park. It couldn't have been a more beautiful Saturday to walk over two miles in the city.


Japanese Cherry Blossoms at The Fricke Collection



The French Consulate

To top off a perfect day, we ended it the only way we could think of--enjoying a few sips of prosecco at the Bryant Park Cafe.

Shoutout to Lauren for the photo credit because my phone died at the Neue Galerie!

I'm already planning my next trip to New York City to see The Museum at FIT's exhibit on Global Fashion Capitals and the FabergĂ© exhibit at The Met I had completely overlooked...

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