What to see at NYC’s Met museum if short on time

It’s impossible to do justice to New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in only a few hours.

You could spend days browsing its more than 2 million pieces of art!

If you’re short on time, you’ll need to prioritize and focus on the pieces you really must see at the Met.

What you absolutely must see at the Met

Metropolitan Museum of Art virtual tour

What to see at the Met in 2 hours (or 3)

There are so many things to do in New York City that we could only devote an afternoon to the museum on our visit to the Big Apple.

We did our best and managed (we think!) to at least take in some key Met paintings, exhibits and masterpieces on our 3-hour visit.

Note: You can take photos inside the museum, including photos of the famous art at the Met.

Indeed, the Met is one of the best photography spots in New York City!

So with that preamble behind us, here’s our guide on what to see at the Met.

Famous paintings at the Met

One of the top highlights of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is its famous collection of European paintings.

This is where we headed first.

You can ooh and ahh over a mind-boggling number of gorgeous European art from the 13th to the 19th centuries.

Works by the Spanish artists, El Greco and Goya. Dutch art from the 17th century by Rembrandt and Vermeer. French paintings by Monet, Degas, Cezanne and Van Gogh.

By the way, you can also see an impressive collection of paintings by Monet and Van Gogh at the newly renovated MoMA (Museum of Modern Art).

The Met vs MoMA? There’s always debate about that. MoMA’s specialty, of course, is modern and contemporary art, and we’d love to see the museum. Next visit!

Mind you, at the Met, we don’t know if we actually saw much of what can be seen there.

Many of the European paintings are being shuffled around and/or going into storage while gallery skylights are being replaced and other renovation work is carried out.

The four-year work project is expected to be complete by 2022.

No matter though if we missed seeing some of the famous paintings at the Met.

We were sufficiently impressed by the European paintings we did see!

“The Fortune Teller,” Georges de la Tour

This notable painting (from the 1630s?) by French Baroque artist, Georges de la Tour, caught our eye.

It shows a wealthy young man getting robbed by three thieves, as an old gypsy woman tells his fortune.

It’s celebrated probably in part because of the painting’s mysterious discovery some 80 years ago.

The story goes that a French prisoner-of-war, who was reminded of an old painting at his uncle’s castle, had a priest examine the painting after the war. It was confirmed to be a genuine La Tour.

An art dealer then bought the painting in 1949 (outbidding the Louvre); the Met acquired it in 1960.

“The Love Letter,” Jean Honore Fragonard

We fell in love with “The Love Letter,” a famous canvas by the French painter, Jean Honore Fragonard.

Van Gogh at the Met

While living with his brother in Paris between 1886 and 1888, Vincent Van Gogh painted 22 self-portraits, including “Self-Portrait With a Straw Hat” (1887).

Wearing peasant clothes, Van Gogh looks out with one blue eye and one green eye.

Did you know painters can copy the art in the Louvre? Read more about the Louvre copyists

Egyptian art and cultural artifacts

At the time, Egypt gave concessions to foreign institutions to excavate various sites.

This was based on the understanding that half of what was found would go to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The excavators could keep the other half.

And so the Met Museum acquired a splendid Egyptian collection!

“Hatshepsut Seated,” 1473 to 1458 B.C.

She lived 1,000 years after the Pyramids were built – and centuries before Cleopatra (accomplishing more than Cleopatra did too).

The first notable female leader in history, Queen Hatshepsut ruled Egypt for two decades (1473 to 1458 B.C.).

During Hatshepsut’s reign, peace prevailed and life was prosperous. She restored monuments, set about building new temples and renewed trade.

(If you’re lucky enough to visit Egypt, don’t miss her own mortuary temple, the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri. It’s an architectural marvel and one of the most wonderful sights to see in Egypt – it blew us away when we visited several years ago.)

At the Met, Hatshepsut is shown seated as the pharaoh in this lovely limestone masterpiece (over 6 feet high).

She’s dressed in the ceremonial clothes typically worn by a male Egyptian king – bare-chested and wearing the shendyt kilt – but it’s obvious she’s female.

The Temple of Dendur

You’re not likely to see an Egyptian temple anywhere else in the western world than at the Met!

The Temple of Dendur is a real temple, carefully rebuilt from its original stones and blocks.

This sacred temple was built in southern Egypt in the first century B.C. to honor the Egyptian goddess Isis.

It was given to the U.S. by Egypt in 1967 as a thank-you for American help in saving Egyptian monuments from being flooded by rising waters from Lake Nasser when the Aswan High Dam was built.

The Smithsonian Institution wanted the temple rebuilt outdoors in Washington, D.C. (Jackie Kennedy was a keen advocate of this idea too.) But the Met won out as the temple’s new home.

The Temple of Dendur was eventually reassembled in the Met’s Sackler Wing in 1978, behind a glass wall looking through to Central Park and a large reflecting pool in front.

It’s impressive.

And we say that, even though we’ve ogled many temples in their original splendid setting in Egypt.

Recommended reading: Take a peek at some of the most beautiful tombs and temples in Egypt

A human-headed winged lion (lamassu)

In the 9th century B.C., the great Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II built a luxurious new palace in Nimrud (in what is now northern Iraq).

Guarding the entrance to the palace stood a winged lion with a human head and five legs, called a lamassu. (It probably stood with another lamassu as a pair.)

Head to the Assyrian Sculpture Court at the Met, and you’ll see this magnificent lamassu.

Standing beside it is a winged bull (though in ancient times, each gateway would be guarded by a matching pair, two lions or two bulls).

Greek and Roman sculpture court

Wander into the two-story hall with Ionic columns, flooded with natural light from the skylights above.

You’ll feel like you’ve been transported back to ancient Greece or Rome.

How to visit the Met

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Photo credits: © Janice and George Mucalov, SandInMySuitcase (except 8 and 10 Metropolitan Museum of Art)| Hotel photo Kimberly Hotel & Suites

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