The Wanderer Who Wondered
The little wanderer came to a great stone hall in New York, tall as a mountain. "Today I will wonder," he said. The Metropolitan Museum of Art opened in 1870.
Beyond a pool of still water stood a real temple from Egypt. The Temple of Dendur was built around 15 BC, in the time of Emperor Augustus. Egypt gave it to the United States in 1965, and it opened at the Met in 1978.
In a glass case a tiny wooden boat sailed on air. These tomb models of Meketre were made in Egypt about 4,000 years ago, so he could sail in the next world.
A great stone cat with a queen's face watched him pass. The Sphinx of Hatshepsut was carved in granite about 1473-1458 BC for Egypt's woman pharaoh.
"Hello, William," he whispered to a little blue hippo covered in painted lotus flowers. William is faience, made in Egypt about 3,900 years ago, and everyone calls him William.
A girl in stone held two doves, and she had waited a very long time. This Greek grave marker was carved about 450 BC to remember a child.
A knight in shining steel sat tall upon a steel horse. Armor like this was made by skilled armorers, hammered piece by piece, long before photographs.
Under a golden sky, farmers rested in the wheat. Pieter Bruegel the Elder painted The Harvesters in 1565, one picture from a set of the months of the year.
A woman poured milk by the window, and the light felt quiet. Johannes Vermeer painted Young Woman with a Water Pitcher around 1662, in Delft.
An old man in a black hat rested his hand on a statue of Homer. Rembrandt painted Aristotle with a Bust of Homer in 1653. "He is thinking," said the wanderer.
A great blue wave curled over tiny boats, with a small mountain waiting behind it. Hokusai made The Great Wave off Kanagawa in Japan around 1831 as a woodblock print.
Cold ice, dark water and a boat full of brave soldiers. Emanuel Leutze painted Washington Crossing the Delaware in 1851, and it is huge.
A river bent like an ox's yoke below a passing storm. Thomas Cole painted The Oxbow in 1836, showing the valley of the Connecticut River.
One sailor drifted alone in a small boat on a wild sea. Winslow Homer painted The Gulf Stream in 1899. The wanderer hoped hard for him.
A lady in a black gown stood very still, turned away. John Singer Sargent painted Madame X in 1883-84. "She is very proud," the wanderer decided.
The stars of the night sky seemed to swirl above wheat, with dark cypress trees like flames. Vincent van Gogh painted Wheat Field with Cypresses in 1889.
In a long bright room, dancers stretched and waited for their turn. Edgar Degas painted The Dance Class in 1874, in Paris.
A green bridge crossed a pond full of lilies. Claude Monet painted Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies in 1899, in his garden at Giverny.
Autumn colors glowed through a window made of glass. Louis Comfort Tiffany's stained glass Autumn Landscape was made about 1923-24.
Then he stepped into a real room from a house in Minnesota. Frank Lloyd Wright designed this living room for the Little family in 1912-14, and the Met kept it whole.
A quiet Chinese garden court waited with a pond and rocks. The Astor Court was built in 1981 by craftsmen from Suzhou, in the style of a Ming garden.
In a field of flowers, a white unicorn rested inside a little fence. The Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries were woven about 1495-1505, and they hang at the Met Cloisters.
On the roof, Central Park spread out below like a green sea. "The world is a museum too," he said.
He sat on the steps as the sun went down, and drew in his notebook. Every picture had a person behind it. "Who made this? How? Why?" he wondered. The end.