One of New York City’s most popular spaces, the spacious Charles Engelhard Court in The New American Wing tops the list of areas in the Main Building of The Metropolitan Museum of Art that will be open to the public on Memorial Day (Monday, May 25), the patriotic holiday that is the next in the sequence of popular Met Holiday Mondays sponsored by CIT.
The Charles Engelhard Court
Also on view will be selected special exhibitions and galleries, the public cafeteria, and several gift shops. Met Holiday Mondays are extra public viewing days that take place on the Mondays of major holiday weekends, when historically the Museum has been closed. A different selection of exhibitions is open on each Met Holiday Monday.
“As many of our visitors consider vacationing or spending the Memorial Day weekend in the City, we hope they will include the Met in their plans,” commented Emily K. Rafferty, President of the Metropolitan Museum. “Met Holiday Mondays offer the public additional opportunities to enjoy marvelous works of art—from ancient to contemporary, from around the world and around the corner, whether from our permanent collection or in special exhibitions—in some of New York’s most stunning spaces, both indoors and out. The continuing partnership with CIT for this program is particularly meaningful this year, and we are deeply thankful for their support. In conjunction with the patriotic Memorial Day holiday, we invite our visitors to explore the recently opened New American Wing, where they can see three centuries of American art.”
Of special interest for the Memorial Day holiday will be the recently opened New American Wing: The Charles Engelhard Court and the Period Rooms. Returning to view after a major two-year renovation, the courtyard is dedicated to the display of the Metropolitan Museum’s preeminent collection of American sculpture and decorative arts. In addition, the Museum’s unparalleled collection of 19 historic American interiors—from the late 17th to the early 20th century—can be toured in historical sequence.
Also on view will be: The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion, an exhibition that focuses on iconic fashion models of the last half century and their roles in projecting, and sometimes inspiring, the fashion of their time (through August 9); Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective, a landmark presentation of some 65 paintings by the controversial 20th-century painter (through August 16); and Roxy Paine on the Roof: Maelstrom, a 130-foot-long stainless-steel sculpture created specifically for the Met’s dramatic outdoor space, with its spectacular views of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline (through October 25, weather permitting). This is also the last chance to see Cast in Bronze: French Sculpture from Renaissance to Revolution, an exhibition of approximately 125 superb statuettes, portrait busts, and monuments that reveal the French genius for bronze (closing May 25).
Hour-long art adventures in the galleries, which include stimulating discussion and sketching of the Met’s masterpieces for children ages 5 through 12 and accompanying adults, will meet in the Museum’s Uris Center for Education at 11 a.m., noon, 1:15 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. The program is free with Museum admission.
www.metmuseum.org
