A Guide to the Top Art Pieces at The MET Museum in New York

WANT TO VISIT THE MET MUSEUM?

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) is my happy place. As an art lover who lives in New York City, you’re in the right place to discover some of the best art pieces at The MET.

Whether you are interested in European masterpieces and sculptures, Greek & Roman art, Medieval artifacts, or seeing works from different African cultures – The MET has it all.

This list highlights my personal favorites, like The Little Dancer by Edgar Degas. Take a look at my Guide to the MET Museum of Art for answers to common questions about the museum.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Map

As the largest museum in New York and the most-visited, this map will be useful for your next visit! I usually dedicate 3-4 hours to exploring The MET museum’s exhibitions or permanent collections each time I go.

Read on for some of the best art pieces to admire up close!

Book any of these popular tours that provide an amazing overview of the MET Museum:

Top Art Pieces to See at The MET Museum

Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat, Vincent van Gogh (1887)

Vincent van Gogh produced more than twenty self-portraits between 1886–88. In the picture below we can see the artist’s awareness of Neo-Impressionist technique, and one of several that are painted on the reverse of an earlier peasant study.

vincent-van-gogh-at-the-met — Self-Portrait with a Straw Hat is one of the most famous paintings to see at The MET.

Little Fourteen Year Old Dancer, Edgar Degas (1922)

What a little beauty! Edgar Degas’s ballerinas have captivated me since I was a little girl. My mother was a ballerina herself, and at her home, she has framed copies of the paintings that you see behind the bronze sculpture below.

By the Seashore, Auguste Renoir (1883)

Auguste Renoir is possibly my favorite French artist, and while studying art history in Paris, I focused my studies on his works. Renoir was a painter associated with the development of the Impressionist movement. His works are characterized by beauty and feminine sensuality.

A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, Georges Seurat (1884)

The picture below, “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte” is Georges Seurat’s most famous work. Georges Seurat used dot-like dabs of paint, a technique known as Pointillism (from the French word point, or dot).

best-art-pieces-to-see-at-the-met-museum — The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York

LEFT: The Manneporte near Étretat, Claude Monet (1886)

RIGHT: Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies, Claude Monet (1899)

Imperial Napoleonic Egg, House of Fabergé (1912)

Fabergé eggs are decorative eggs containing objets d’art that were made by Peter Carl Fabergé’s studios from 1885 to 1917. The best-known are the 50 Imperial eggs created for the Romanov family and given as Easter gifts.

The current exhibition at The MET features three of the fifty Imperial Easter Eggs.

Liberty, Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi (1875)

A gift of friendship from the French people to the United States, Bartholdi’s Statue of Liberty celebrates freedom. Like the final monument, it shows an austere Lady Liberty raising the torch of Enlightenment with the broken chains of tyranny at her feet.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Among the department’s best-known masterpieces in marble are Andromeda and the Sea Monster, Perseus with the Head of Medusa, The Burghers of Calais, and Winter.

Andromeda and the Sea Monster, Domenico Guidi (1694)

The Burghers of Calais, Auguste Rodin (1884-1895)

The Burghers of Calais is Rodin’s best-known public monument. The monument commemorates the heroism of six leading citizens (burghers) of the French city of Calais. In the fourteenth century, at the beginning of the Hundred Years’ War, they offered their lives to the English king in exchange for the lifting of his siege of the city.

Musée Rodin in Paris is one of my favorite museums in the world. My little apartment in Paris, France was an 8-minute walk from the museum, so it was easy for me to visit.

The American Wing

The American Wing contains more than 15,000 paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts objects. In the image below you can see The Charles Engelhard Court, a glassed-in garden featuring large-scale American sculptures, leaded-glass windows, and other architectural pieces. Be sure to check out this lovely area.

Egyptian Art

The MET collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 26,000 objects of historical and cultural importance, dating from the Paleolithic to the Roman period (ca. 300,000 B.C.–A.D. 4th century).

Two highlights in this area include The Temple of Dendur (completed by 10 B.C.), and the Sphinx of Hatshepsut, 1479–1458 B.C. The sphinx portrays the female pharaoh Hatshepsut with the body of a lion and a human head wearing a nemes–headcloth and false beard.