The Metropolitan Museum of Art will open its doors on Labor Day, September 3, as part of its ongoing series of Met Holiday Mondays. Both of its locations—the main building at Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street, and The Cloisters museum and gardens in northern Manhattan—will open their galleries to the public, offering visitors access to its world-renowned collections, as well as exhibitions, programs, and amenities including cafés and shops.
“This Labor Day, the Metropolitan Museum is the perfect destination for all of us who wish summer would last a little longer,” commented Emily K. Rafferty, President of the Metropolitan Museum. “In addition to the magnificent works of art from the Museum’s permanent collection and the roster of special exhibitions on display in our galleries, we offer unique, outdoor experiences that are especially suited to warm weather. On view at the rooftop sculpture garden atop the Museum’s main building is a monumental, site-specific sculpture that also provides unparalleled treetop views of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline. And at The Cloisters—our branch museum dedicated to the art and architecture of the Middle Ages—a variety of gardens feature plants that are mentioned in medieval manuscripts or depicted in medieval works of art, against the backdrop of the Hudson River and the Palisades.”
What to See on Labor Day, September 3
At the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden of the Metropolitan’s main building, art and architecture merge in Tomás Saraceno on the Roof: Cloud City—a 28-feet-high constellation of interconnected, room-sized modules suggesting a floating or flying city. (The installation is open, weather permitting, through November 4). In the galleries, September 3 is the final opportunity to see three exhibitions: Ellsworth Kelly Plant Drawings, 80 figurative drawings spanning six decades by one of America’s foremost abstract painters; Bellini, Titian, and Lotto: North Italian Paintings from the Accademia Carrara, Bergamo, 15 masterpieces by Venetian and north Italian painters of the 15th and 16th centuries; and Dürer and Beyond: Central European Drawings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art,1400–1700, an overview of the Museum's holdings of early Central European drawings, many of which were acquired in the last two decades.
The Cloisters museum and gardens displays masterpieces of the Metropolitan’s renowned collection of medieval art, including the famed Unicorn Tapestries, and hundreds of examples of exquisite stained glass, metalwork, enamels, ivories, and paintings, all in a magnificent setting that evokes the Middle Ages. The Cloisters museum and gardens is located in Fort Tryon Park, in northern Manhattan.
In the Metropolitan’s main building, Charles H. Tally Holiday Monday Family Programs specially organized for Labor Day include discussion and sketching activities that will be available for families with children ages 5 through 12 at 11 a.m., noon, 1:15 and 2:30 p.m. These programs are free with Museum admission. A complete listing of programs and activities to be held at both the Metropolitan Museum’s main building and The Cloisters can be found on the Metropolitan Museum’s website at www.metmuseum.org. Museum cafés and shops will be open, and parking is available at both locations.
Met Holiday Mondays are extra public viewing days that take place on the Mondays of major holiday weeks and weekends, when historically the Museum has been closed.
The next Met Holiday Monday will be on Columbus Day (October 8).
Credits:
Tomás Saraceno on the Roof: Cloud City: Made possible by Bloomberg. Additional support provided by Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon B. Polsky, The Daniel and Estrellita Brodsky Foundation, William S. Lieberman Fund, and Eugenio Lopez. Cloud City is lent by Christian Keesee. Ellsworth Kelly Plant Drawings: Made possible by the Gail and Parker Gilbert Fund and the Jane and Robert Carroll Fund. Bellini, Titian, and Lotto: North Italian Paintings from the Accademia Carrara, Bergamo: Organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in collaboration with the Accademia Carrara of Bergamo.
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August 16, 2012
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