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Editorial assistant Nadja Hansen expounds on why the Met is a great place for a date.
My name's Nadja Hansen, I work in the editorial department as an editorial assistant, and I'm going to be talking about Date Night at the Met.
I think it's a great date place because the art really lends itself to a conversation. You get to learn a lot about people's opinions, or people's insights
what people are attracted to, what they're not attracted to, in a very natural and inadvertent way. And it's an interesting way to get to know somebody
without the regular formulaic, "What do you do and how big is your family?" When I'm first getting to know someone, it's awkward for me to go look at
a bunch of lovers running around, or more sensual or erotic art. So I purposely avoid those galleries and I head more for works of art that
without having coupling in it or without any kind of romantic encounter, there's a love affair that's implied. I think sometimes taking a date
to look at those types of pictures can almost be innocent, but flirtatious in a way.
There's this young girl that seems to be tuning a lute and she's leaning forward out the window and she has this almost childlike eagerness. You get the implication that a music teacher or musical companion that she has
more than platonic feelings for is on their way and she just can't wait for them to arrive.
There's a wonderful photograph by Alfred Stieglitz of Georgia O'Keeffe, who was not only his lover but also he was an early champion of her art. So the way that he's almost eroticizing her hands and that he's focusing on the instrument of her creativity has dual meanings.
I love this painting by David. It's such a wonderful depiction of mutual admiration and respect. They were real people that lived in revolutionary France and he was a great scientist, and she was not only his wife, but she was also his
collaborator. Unfortunately it ended like so many romances do, in tragedy, when he was guillotined towards the end of the revolution.
I think that there's some works of art that if you're just a real romantic, you have to seek them out.
The Storm is one of my favorite paintings in the world. And I actually had a humongous poster of it up in my apartments, both in graduate school and in undergraduate. Looking back on it, I kind of have to laugh because I didn't think of it at the time, but it really was a kind of advertisement to anybody who walked into my apartment, any potential suitor, that
I was a die-hard romantic, and if that ended up scaring anyone away, I guess I'll never know.
There are other works that are a tenth-date type of thing, like Loving Couple, that I adore from the sweeping lines of the vegetation over them and the diagonals
and this intense stare that they're giving one another. It definitely is a very erotic scene.
Venus and Cupid by Lorenzo Lotto - I don't know if you could even call it erotic because it's so enigmatic to modern eyes. This cupid seems to be peeing on this Venus, and it's so beautifully painted that it's really an exquisite work of art
but the subject matter is something I would shy away from before I got to know someone.
There's some wonderful spaces in the museum that just by their very nature exude romance for me.
All of the European period rooms are so feminine and elegant. There isn't one detail in the room that isn't
beautifully thought out, and just being in them evokes tender feelings.
I think the Metropolitan Museum is the perfect place. If you're on a blind date, for example, and you don't know how well it's going to go,
or if you're with somebody that you just can immediately tell you have a connection with, and you just want to talk for hours. But if you're with somebody that you can see is losing interest in talking about art or looking at art...
That's when I use the tactic of going straight to the bar, which always is much appreciated.
Works of art in order of appearanceLast Updated: June 22, 2015. Not all works of art in the Museum's collection may be on view on a particular day. For the most accurate location information, please check this page on the day of your visit. |
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Crow and Heron, or Young Lovers Walking Together under an Umbrella in a Snowstorm ca. 1769 Suzuki Harunobu (Japanese) Polychrome woodcut print on paper Rogers Fund, 1936 (JP2453) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Asian ArtSecond Floor | |
Couple at Coney Island, New York 1928 Walker Evans (American) Gelatin silver print Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987 (1987.1100.110) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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PhotographsSecond Floor | |
Lovers Sitting on a Rock 1796–97 Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) (Spanish) Brush and gray wash on laid Netherlandish paper Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1935 (35.103.6) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Drawings and PrintsSecond Floor | |
Pygmalion and Galatea ca. 1890 Jean-Léon Gérôme (French) Oil on canvas Gift of Louis C. Raegner, 1927 (27.200) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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European PaintingsSecond Floor | |
The Love Letter ca. 1770 Jean-Honorè Fragonard (French) Oil on canvas The Jules Bache Collection, 1949 (49.7.49) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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European PaintingsSecond Floor | |
Woman with a Lute ca. 1662–63 Johannes Vermeer (Dutch) Oil on canvas Bequest of Collis P. Huntington, 1900 (25.110.24) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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European PaintingsSecond Floor | |
Georgia O'Keeffe—Hands 1917 Alfred Stieglitz (American) Platinum print Gift of Georgia O'Keeffe, through the generosity of The Georgia O'Keeffe Foundation and Jennifer and Joseph Duke, 1997 (1997.61.2) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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PhotographsSecond Floor | |
Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743–1794) and His Wife (Marie-Anne-Pierrette Paulze, 1758–1836) 1788 Jacques-Louis David (French) Oil on canvas Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gift, in honor of Everett Fahy, 1977 (1977.10) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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European PaintingsSecond Floor | |
Eternal Spring, also known as Eternal Springtime probably modeled 1881, this marble executed 1906–7 Auguste Rodin (French) Marble Bequest of Isaac D. Fletcher, 1917 (17.120.184) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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European Sculpture and Decorative ArtsSecond Floor | |
The Storm 1880 Pierre-Auguste Cot (French) Oil on canvas Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Collection, Bequest of Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, 1887 (87.15.134) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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European PaintingsSecond Floor | |
Loving couple (mithuna) Eastern Ganga dynasty, 13th century Orissa, India Ferruginous stone Purchase, Florance Waterbury Bequest, 1970 (1970.44) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Asian ArtSecond Floor | |
Venus and Cupid late 1520s Lorenzo Lotto (Italian, Venetian) Oil on canvas Purchase, Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gift, in honor of Marietta Tree, 1986 (1986.138) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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European PaintingsSecond Floor | |
Grand Salon From the Hôtel de Tessé 1768–72, with later additions Pierre Noël Rousset (French); Nicolas Huyot (French); Louis-Pierre Fixon (French); Pierre Fixon (French); Louis-Pierre Fixon (French); Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lefranc (French) Oak, painted gray, carved and gilded; marble; plaster Gift of Mrs. Herbert N. Straus, 1942 (42.203.1) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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European Sculpture and Decorative ArtsFirst Floor | |
Boiserie from the Hôtel de Cabris 18th century (ca. 1775–78, and later) French (Paris); Made in Paris, France Oak and plaster, painted and gilded; bronze-gilt, mirror glass, oak flooring, etc. Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman Gift, 1972 (1972.276.1) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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European Sculpture and Decorative ArtsFirst Floor | |
Bedroom from Sagredo Palace, Venice 18th century (ca. 1718) Stuccowork probably by Abbondio Stazio of Massagno and Carpoforo Mazzetti; ceiling painting probably by Gaspare Diziani of Belluno Italian (Venice) Wood, stucco, marble, glass Rogers Fund, 1906 (06.1335.1a–d) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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European Sculpture and Decorative ArtsFirst Floor | |
Rubens, His Wife Helena Fourment (1614–1673), and Their Son Peter Paul (born 1637) mid- to late 1630s Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish) Oil on wood Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, in honor of Sir John Pope-Hennessy, 1981 (1981.238) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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European PaintingsSecond Floor | |
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