Tickets
DonateMembership
Tickets

Can you listen to a painting?

"Van Eyck has really broken the silence."
Maryan Ainsworth
2 min. watch

"Van Eyck has really broken the silence."

Curator Maryan Ainsworth on "The Crucifixion; The Last Judgment" by Jan van Eyck.

Explore this object:
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436282

Throughout 2013, The Met invited curators from across the Museum to each talk about one artwork that changed the way they see the world.

Photography by Anna-Marie Kellen

Subscribe for new content from The Met: https://www.youtube.com/user/metmuseum?sub_confirmation=1

#TheMet #ArtExplained #Art

Contributors

Maryan Ainsworth
Curator Emerita, Department of European Paintings

More from The Met

Pop art portrait of a woman with bright orange hair, turquoise skin, pink lips, and lavender eyeshadow on a pink background.
Fashioning the Transatlantic Blonde
How do works in The Met collection trace the shifting associations of blonde glamour in Western art?
Lynda Nead
February 2
A small wooden carved box featuring figures and a tree in relief.
A Likeness
The author of After Sappho offers a queer feminist reading of Eve and the serpent, reimagining sin as likeness, desire, and bodies transcending gender and species.
Selby Wynn Schwartz
January 9
A close-up detail of a painted face rendered in muted green, blue, and gray tones.
What I See or Seem to See
Author Leena Krohn reflects on Helene Schjerfbeck’s portrait of Sigrid Nyberg.
Leena Krohn
December 18, 2025
More in:Art ExplainedReligion & Spirituality

Art Mentioned

A slider containing 1 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
The Crucifixion; The Last Judgment, Jan van Eyck Netherlandish, Oil on canvas, transferred from wood
The Crucifixion; The Last Judgment
Jan van Eyck
ca. 1436–38