The “Met After Hours” sign inside the museum that evening.

How beautiful and welcoming the Met always looks on Private Members Nights.

After the weekend of my graduation from NYU and the activities of the graduation, I had almost forgotten that the Metropolitan Museum of Art was having one of their ‘Private Members Nights’ the next Monday. Between the last days of classes at both colleges and my graduation, it was nice to have a break and get my mind off everything.

‘Private Members Nights’ are a special night that happens usually on Monday when the museum closes early and a large portion of the museum is open exclusively to just members and a guest. They are a great to spend an evening touring the museum at a slower pace. Only certain parts of the building are open as well as the exhibitions so it gives everyone a chance to see particular exhibitions.

What is nice is that they have a Members Bar and the restaurants open so the members can relax and have dinner or a drink or both. There an also music so it makes it a very festive and social evening. This was a very crowded section of the museum

The Members Bar and Music on the Private Members Night.

Since I had just been in the museum the other week to see the ‘Harlem Renaissance’ exhibition and a couple of the other exhibitions, I decided to see two others I was interested in ‘Weaving Abstraction’ and ‘Sleeping Beauties’, an exhibition on Vintage clothing and the memories and personality left behind by their former owners.

The entrance to the ‘Weaving Abstraction’ exhibition.

In the exhibition for ‘Weaving Abstraction’ the art is a comparison of ancient Pre-Columbian Art and modern artists equivalents. The comparison and the quality of the artwork was intriguing. Sometimes I could not tell what was ancient and what was new.

The description of ‘Weaving Abstraction’

The work took a modern approach to how each artist interpreted the art. What I found interesting with the art and this is without looking at the signs is what was ancient and what was modern.

Some of the current pieces in the collection.

Some of the modern pieces in the collection mixed in with Pre-Columbian art.

Some of the more modern pieces in the exhibition.

The Loincloth was one of my favorite pieces in the exhibition.

The Loincloth was one of the most interesting and colorful pieces in the exhibition.

I was able to relax and have a drink at the bar before I headed up to the ‘Sleeping Beauties’ exhibition. The line was long and moved quickly showing that the exhibition was really popular.

The ‘Sleeping Beauties’ exhibition is a different angle at looking at clothing. Rather than its history, it looks at the personality of its prior owner. The means the smells that the owners left with things like perfume and smoking. Near most of the clothing there were scent beads to better represent the smells.

This detailed evening cape I thought was beautiful.

The description of the Cape made by Gucci.

This beaded jacket I thought was one of the nicest pieces in the collection.

Some unusual displays took center stage at the exhibition.

The collection of vintage clothing on display from different eras.

This dress studded with beads and embellishments was influenced by insects and bugs.

The description of this evening dress by the House of Lanvin.

By the time I had finished viewing the exhibition, it was almost time to leave. The lines had been so long to see “Sleeping Beauties” (this had been extremely popular that evening) that it was almost ten o’clock when I left.

The evenings are when the museum shows its true magic when it is all lit up. Here is the outside of the museum at the end of the evening.

The Met at the end of the evening.

The courtyard outside the museum at night.

The fountain lit for the evening had almost a musical appearance.

The Members entrance as I was leaving for the evening. This is the true beauty of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

It was a relaxing evening of music and great art. Just what I needed after a long semester and my graduation from college.