The Best Pieces at the MET

The Best Pieces at the MET The Greatest Painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art ChaptersWashington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel LeutzeThe Death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis DavidWoman with a Parrot by Gustave CourbetThe Water Lily Pond by Claude MonetMadame X by John Singer SargentManuel Osorio Manrique de Zúñiga by Francisco de GoyaAristotle with a Bust of Homer by RembrandtThe Musicians by CaravaggioWoman with a Water Jug by Johannes VermeerAutumn Rhythm (Number 30) by Jackson PollockWhile a lot of the world’s greatest museums are in Europe, you shouldn’t forget one of the greatest art museums in the world: the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.This huge museum in Manhattan, New York, is home to over 2 million pieces of art from all over the world. Van Gogh, Cézanne, Pissarro, Auguste Renoir, Joseph Durand-Ruel, Jean-Frédéric Bazille, Manet, Berthe Morisot, Degas, Ingres, Delacroix, and Warhol all appear at the MET, an out-of-the-ordinary art museum in the United States of America.The greatest artistic movements are all present at the MET: im pressionism, realism, self-portraits, expressionism, fauvism, naturalism, pointillism, and symbolism.In this article, we've put together a non-exhaustive list of some of the best paintings you can see in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.Aristotle with a Bust of Homer by RembrandtRembrandt needs no introduction; he’s one of the most famous painters in the world and a Dutch baroque master.A philosopher thinking about a philosopher. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)His work appears in the world’s greatest museums including his piece Aristotle with a Bust of Homer in the MET. In this piece, you can see Aristotle dressed in 17th-century attire and posing with a bust of the poet Homer.It symbolises that philosophy comes before poetry and art in general. Thus, Aristotle is inspired by the poet. The political aspect is also represented by the portrait of Alexander on Aristotle’s medallion.The piece was acquired by the MET in 1961 for the modest sum of 2.3 million dollars.The Music ians by CaravaggioThe Musicians or Concert of Youths is an oil on canvas from the Italian baroque master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. As a naturalist, realist, and great user of chiaroscuro, Caravaggio is famous for this huge work.The Musicians can be seen at the MET and includes several musicians and cupid on the left. It’s possible that the person in the background is Caravaggio, making this one of the artist’s first self-portraits.The theme of mythology and Bacchus is present in Caravaggio’s work and in pieces that can be found in New York, France, Italy, England, and Spain.Woman with a Water Jug by Johannes VermeerVermeer, the Dutch Baroque  painter, is most famous for his pieces like The Milkmaid or Girl with a Pearl Earring. Vermeer, much like Rembrandt, is considered a master of the Dutch Golden Age.Vermeer is a baroque master. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)The piece Woman with a Water Jug, painted in 1658, depicts a young working-class woman carrying a water jug wit h one hand and opening a window with the other.Like in other pieces, Vermeer painted a preoccupied woman contrasting the freedom of outside with the traditional rules inside.Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) by Jackson PollockAutumn Rhythm (Number 30), is an enamel paint on canvas by Jackson Pollock, an American abstract expressionist painter. This influential contemporary artist created over 700 pieces!Here are some of his other great works:Untitled (Naked Man with Knife), 1938-1940Mural, 1943Number 5, 1948One: Number 31, 1950Number 1 (Lavender Mist), 1950Blue Poles: Number 11, 1952Convergence, 1952The Deep, 1953White Light, 1954While the technique used to create his works is often focused on, Autumn Rhythm seems to express anger. Of course, you can come to your own conclusions on this beautiful and original piece.We could also have mentioned the other artists on display in the MET like Gauguin, Kandinsky, Caillebotte, Sisley, Corot, Géricault, Seurat, or even Watteau. The MET is a fantas tic museum, after all.So would you like to visit the Metropolitan Musem of Art?If you can't, don't forget that you can see examples of impressionist paintings online or visit museums nearer to home.Superprof can help you deepen your understanding of art history or a particular art movement with a private tutor! Whether you want to learn more about sculpture, impressionist art, plein air painting, or modern art, a private tutor is the way to go.There are three different types of private tutorials you can get from the tutors on Superprof: face-to-face tutorials, online tutorials, and group tutorials.Face-to-face tutorials take place with a tutor and a single student and are the most effective of the three since your tutor will dedicate all their time to you.Online tutorials take place via webcam using programmes such as Skype. Without travel costs, tutors can charge less per hour than they usually would in a face-to-face tutorial.Group tutorials are more like a traditional art class. However, you could always get a group of friends together and all learn to paint at the same time. These tend to be the cheapest per hour since the students share the cost of the tutor's time.So which types of tutorials will you go for?