The Yale University Art Gallery

My fifth art museum experience took place on Saturday, November 30th 2008 at the Yale University Art Gallery. This day was very exciting and eventful; it was as if I traveled around the world for free in one day. Before you even walk though the doors, you get a sense of the culture, history, and architecture that the museum is famous for.

The Yale University Art Gallery was founded in 1832, and houses over 185,000 works of art. This art gallery consists of four floors and is filled with many unique and beautiful pieces. Yale Art is in the processes of renovation and will be done in 2011.[1] [2]

Upon entering the first floor of the gallery you first come across many ancient sculptures dating back to the time of the ancient Romans. This sculpture is a portrait of the Roman emperor Caligula, who ruled from 37-41 A.D.

Our travels took us up to my favorite part of the museum, which is on the second floor. We entered into the world of African Art. These pieces of art were both striking and colorful. This collection began in 1937 and includes art from South of the Sahara.[3] There are as many as 1,000 pieces total, which are made from many different types of materials such as wood, metal, ivory, and ceramic.[4] My favorite piece was a male mask with a headdress. It was very exotic and made of wood feathers, cloth, hide, and pigments.[5]

My second favorite exhibition was the collection of Asian Art, which is composed of several thousands of artifacts from China, Korea, and Japan ranging from circa 500 B.C.E. to 1868 A.D. [6] I was amazed at the beautifully handcrafted pieces of pottery, paintings, and statues. One of my favorite pieces was a Chinese scroll entitled Ink Plum (ca. 1350s) by Wang Mian. It was painted at the end of the Mongolian period and depicts a plum tree branch in bloom.[7] The drawing is surrounded by exquisitely drawn characters on all four sides.

To the right of the ink drawing is a statue of the Buddha made from gray schist in, entitled “Seated Buddha is Meditation, from the 3rd century A.D. during the Kushan period in South Asia.[8] I like this statue because of its meditative position and the peaceful sensation I get while looking at it.




1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_University_Art _Gallery.
[3] http://artgallery.yale.edu/pages/collection/permanent/pc_african_over.html
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] http://artgallery.yale.edu/pages/collection/permanent/pc_asian_over.html.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.