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Volunteer Lyn Younes reflects on how water makes her feel at home wherever she happens to be.
My name is Lyn Younes, and I'm a volunteer at the Met, and my topic is water.
Water has always been a continuum in my life wherever I've been, and I've lived in several places, and it's the one element that has grounded me, and made me feel at home and almost been a source of comfort in a new setting.
Growing up in California, I was surrounded by it. The bay and the Pacific Ocean and the coastal hills were just part of the daily scene. And so I've always been drawn to this particular image. It's got a wonderful stability and serenity to the hills. And the water is just in direct contrast, it's very turbulent, it's very busy, it's very white. San Francisco Bay was very cold and very windy, and sailing out under the bridge into the Pacific was scary.
I can spend hours looking at the ocean and watching it as it changes, but I don't like being on it or in it. So there's a difference.
In summers, we went to Lake Tahoe, and I just have indelible images imprinted in my mind of the snow-capped Sierra Nevada Mountains in the deep blue of the lake. It's still my idea of an earthly paradise, to be honest.
I've always been drawn to paintings, I tend to gravitate to them when there's water present.
Paris, where water is very different. And the Seine really divides the city. I lived on the Left Bank and crossed over the Seine every day to the Right Bank to work and I walked down
the Tuileries Garden, and when the fountains were playing in the morning it was the most uplifting, cheerful start to the day, and had absolutely the opposite effect at night, when I'd leave to go back, it would be very calming and soothing. It really was very transformative.
I live currently in Egypt, I spend a major part of the year there, and I cross the Nile several times a day, and every single time I look at it and I am impressed by its majesty, by its
timelessness, by the fact that it has been life-sustaining to so many people over millennia. The Nile can be
vast in places, and the agricultural land, which is very, very green running alongside it can be only a few feet. So it's very dramatic to see a vast expanse of water with this thin line of green and then the Theban hills rising from the desert behind it. In an arid climate like that of Egypt or Syria
to enter a house where there's a fountain, just to hear the water splashing, is extremely soothing and it makes you kind of forget how hot and dusty it is outside.
It's also, to me, very indicative of the kindness and the thoughtfulness of people who live there.
It's a mental trip in a lot of ways to look at a painting like Summer Mountains. You can go in any direction, whether it's to be on the water in a boat, to cross over a bridge, to listen to a waterfall, to go up a path to a solitary peak. You can really take any road you want.
I really think walking by this, you have to stop, because it invites meditation in looking at it. It's a series of contrasts, really.
The stone is very dark and rough and smooth and the water is just very tranquil as it goes over all four sides. But in the end, the water will change the way the stone looks, and over time it's very much the way nature is.
Water is very powerful, but it does have a quality that is also very ethereal, that you see when a wave breaks and then goes back out into the ocean. As it recedes
it leaves just a very thin trace. So I do have a very deep connection with water
it's very basic.
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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Grapevine Panel 1866 Louis Comfort Tiffany (American) and Tiffany Studios New York City, New York Leaded Favrile glass Gift of Ruth and Frank Stanton, 1978 (1978.19.1) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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American Paintings and SculptureFirst and Second Floors | |
Big Sur, California 1975 Eliot Porter (American) Dye transfer print Gift of the artist, 1985 (1985.1033.2) © 1990 Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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PhotographsSecond Floor | |
Northeaster 1895 Winslow Homer (American) Oil on canvas Gift of George A. Hearn, 1910 (10.64.5) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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American Paintings and SculptureFirst and Second Floors | |
Merced River, Yosemite Valley 1866 Albert Bierstadt (American) Oil on canvas Gift of the sons of William Paton, 1909 (09.214.1) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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American Paintings and SculptureFirst and Second Floors | |
The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak 1863 Albert Bierstadt (American) Oil on canvas Rogers Fund, 1907 (07.123) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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American Paintings and SculptureFirst and Second Floors | |
[Trees on the banks with the Pont-Neuf] ca. 1945 Brassaï (French, born Romania) Gelatin silver print Gift of the artist, 1980 (1980.1029.5) © 2010 Gilberte Brassaï More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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PhotographsSecond Floor | |
The Garden of the Tuileries on a Spring Morning 1899 Camille Pissarro (French) Oil on canvas Partial and Promised Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Dillon, 1992 (1992.103.3) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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European PaintingsSecond Floor | |
Banks of the Nile at Cairo ca. 1857, printed 1870s Francis Frith and Company (English) Albumen silver print from glass negative The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1973 (1973.608.1.26) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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PhotographsSecond Floor | |
Sporting Boat Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12, early reign of Amenemhat I, ca. 1981–1975 b.c. Egypt, Upper Egypt Plastered and painted wood, linen, linen twine, copper Rogers Fund and Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1920 (20.3.6) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Egyptian ArtFirst Floor | |
[The Nile in front of the Theban Hills] 1853–54 John Beasly Greene (American) Salted paper print from paper negative Gilman Collection, Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2005 (2005.100.63) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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PhotographsSecond Floor | |
Damascus Room dated 1119 A.H. / 1707 a.d.; Ottoman Attributed to Damascus, Syria Wood, marble, stucco, glass, mother-of-pearl, ceramics, tile, stone, iron, colors, gold Gift of The Hagop Kevorkian Fund, 1970 (1970.170) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Islamic ArtSecond Floor | |
Summer Mountains Northern Song dynasty, 11th century Attributed to Qu Ding (Chinese) Handscroll; ink and pale color on silk Ex coll.: C.C. Wang Family, Gift of The Dillon Fund, 1973 (1973.120.1) More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Asian ArtSecond Floor | |
Water Stone 1986 Isamu Noguchi (American) Basalt Purchase, Anonymous Gift, 1987 (1987.222) © 2011 The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Asian ArtSecond Floor | |
Ocean 2009 Morigami Jin (Japanese) Bamboo (madake) and rattan Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gifts, 2010 (2010.345) © Morigami Jin More information: The Collection Online Not on view
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Asian ArtSecond Floor | |
© 2011 The Metropolitan Museum of Art |