Yielding to Art at The Met
Visitors to the Museum encounter a grand and sprawling edifice that brims with 5,000 years of magnificent art. Some galleries are popular and crowded, while others are calm and serene, offering a space for contemplation and escape. You never know what you might find around the next corner.
Stopping to take a good look at some ancient Greek black-figure vessels in the Greek and Roman galleries
In this complex and cultured setting it can be hard for visitors to grasp the sheer amount of daily human effort that goes into moving, installing, maintaining, and storing The Met’s vast art collection, which houses great treasures from every corner of the world.
Installing “The Struggle of the Two Natures in Man” by George Grey Barnard (marble, 1888) in the American Wing
Yet, every day, behind the scenes, priceless works of art are moving around The Met, through a labyrinth of corridors and passageways. As this precious traffic travels to and fro, from storage to conservation and from loading bays to exhibition galleries, bright yellow signs (below) remind staff who and what is most important, and who has right-of-way.
In the labyrinthine corridors behind the scenes at The Met, staff are encouraged to yield to the art
Do you yield to art? We do! Please join us. Stop, look, learn, contemplate, be inspired, gain insight, be intrigued, and find delight and solace in art, wherever you encounter it.
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