By Rose O’Neill ‘21
Click here for Rose’s reflection on Met’s Opera House Season of ABT.
I was very excited in December when I was offered an internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The best thing about my internship at The Met is that it makes me better aware of the opportunities at the museum available to the public, opportunities I can take advantage of even after my internship ends. I now have more knowledge about Watson Library and I am more aware of museum events open to visitors. Additionally, information about exhibitions that I would likely come across anyway, but then forget, is at the forefront of my mind.
Take, for example, the exhibition Making Marvels: Science and Splendor at the Courts of Europe, which recently closed. During my lunch break, I can leave the building’s office section and amble through the galleries. While walking to look at some impressionist paintings, I came across the exhibition space. Though the exhibition was widely advertised, I had not previously thought about visiting it. As I was there anyway, however, I walked through it. I’m delighted that I did. It was full of objects that fascinated me, including multiple writing automatons, impressively elaborate clocks, and the Picture Puzzle of Christian V.
Shortly after, the other interns and I were invited to go on a tour of the exhibition in the morning before the museum opened. Without so many other visitors around, I could get a much better look at the objects, and the research assistant guiding us drew my attention to details and items that I had not previously noticed.
Leaving the tour, I was even more entranced than before. I called my mom, saying that she and my dad had to see it and bring my younger brothers. The next weekend, the five of them ventured into Manhattan to meet me at the museum. My internship, therefore, not only gave me a richer experience of the exhibition but encouraged me to spend quality time with my family so I could share that experience with them.
