The Brooklyn Museum: A Neighborhood Secret

I spent close to 17 years living within walking distance from the Brooklyn Museum. It was probably no more than a 15-minute walk from my apartment in Park Slope, and on a rare day off one of my favorite places to go was that museum. The museum always has an incredible collection of art, old and new, and its staff bring in the most interesting exhibitions. The museum is located at the edge of Prospect Park, with the Brooklyn Botanical Garden surrounding its main building. It has a rich history worth mentioning and offers so much more than just what you see in the galleries.

The famous architectural group McKim, Mead, and White designed the building, modeling it after the 1800s style of town lyceums. After ten years of preparations, the museum was ready in 1897 and opened its doors to the public. It is hard to distill the museum’s significance down to just a few paragraphs, but I’ll share what I have always found the most educational and enlightening.

In the American Art Collection you will find Edward Hicks’ The Peaceable Kingdom. As a painter and Quaker minister, he illustrates Isaiah’s prophecy of all men and animals on earth living in peace with one another. Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of George Washington in 1796 is quite sensational in its size and in his portrayal of the first President of the United States. In Winter Scene by Francis Guy from 1819-1820, we see an early depiction of a winter scene in Dumbo, a neighborhood in Brooklyn. I always pause there to really take that painting in fully.

The Brooklyn Museum is famous for its collection of Egyptian, classical and ancient Near Eastern Art, and is one of the world’s largest and finest to be sure. The American Egyptologist Charles Wilbour (1833-1896) was responsible for a tremendous portion of what is in the museum today, and through his funding, the Wilbour Library of Egyptology was created. There are countless objects to see in this wing. I am always very interested in seeing how some of the cities and buildings looked at that time, and here are several modern reconstruction models to illustrate what they believed they looked like. There are beautiful mosaics, mummies and their intricately decorated cartonnages (cases). There are countless sculptures, jewelry, and even surviving papyrus documents.

Currently, there are several exhibitions that would be wonderful to see. There are the Paul McCartney Photographs from 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm. On the 3rd floor in the Beaux-Arts Court you will find Brooklyn Abstraction: Four Artists, Four Walls. This is an installation of works by four artists with strong roots to Brooklyn.

My personal favorite exhibition is on the 4th floor, called the Period Rooms. Sadly, that area is closed to the public until March 2025, but the photos are available on the website. One aspect of the Brooklyn Museum that really makes it stand out is its educational programming. From children to adults, visitors with disabilities, camps, art classes and more, the museum really stands out in making the community and its visitors feel welcome. It’s the kind of museum where you can see a majority of the collection in a day or come back several times as I have to see the rotating new exhibitions.

For more information on the Brooklyn Museum: www.brooklynmuseum.org