Old Friends at the Metropolitan Museum

Last March I went to New York City to see my girlfriend's daughter sing at Carnegie Hall. My girlfriend's mother treated us to the trip, and got us some very nice rooms right on Times Square. This was my fourth trip to New York, so there wasn't much that I wanted to see, except for one thing: visiting old friends at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. To be precise, to visit three different paintings at the museum.

The first painting is Thomas Eakins' "The Champion Single Sculls." I first met this picture in 11th grade, in my U.S. history textbook. At that time, my definition of what made a painting good was how photo-realistic it was, and I remember being impressed by this picture. I stared at it for a long time, amazed that someone could paint something with such precision. When I first went to the museum I had no idea this painting was there, but I remember going into a gallery, running into it and grabbing my girlfriend and telling her about how I first met it.

The second painting is a strange one, "The Innocent Eye Test" by Mark Tansey who, Wikipedia tells me, was actually born in nearby San Jose! The painting is a black and white depiction of scientists showing a painting of cows to a cow. Apparently the scientists were testing whether the cow could differentiate between a painting and the real thing, but for me it's not about the science. Rather, it's about how silly the whole idea seems: grown men, serious and earnest, wondering how a cow will react. Seeing the picture always makes me smile.

The third painting, and the one I find most fascinating, is Jules Bastien-Lepage's Joan of Arc. This is a picture I look at for a long, long time. We are back into photo-realism territory here, but that's not why I like it (Ingrid cured me of such a limited view on art a long time ago); what fascinates me and holds my attention is the haunted look on Joan of Arc's face. The painting captures the moment after Joan's vision of the Archangel Michael, St Catherine and St. Margaret telling her to support the French king. To me, Bastien-Lepage did a wonderful job of capturing that moment. Joan looks like she's in a trance: she's received her instructions and surrendered to her destiny. It suggests that she no longer is in control of her own body, that she has become a vessel for God's will. A little scary, but it is a moment beautifully captured and every time I see it I can't stop looking.

Oh, another cool thing about it.  I looked at it for a long time before I noticed that the saints were also in the painting.

And that's it. Three friends I like to visit, one because it's a friend from my youth, one because it's just silly, and one because I find it haunting. I don't know if and when I will go to New York City again, but one thing I'm sure of: if I do, I will visit them.