In Which I Try to Be Cultured

Long time, no see, little bitties! Sorry about that. I've been very busy! I'm taking advantage of my time left in New York, which is lovely, but the time is positively flying by. Today, on the way home from my weekly 12:00 yoga class with my dear friend Hanna, I got really sad about leaving NYU and New York in about a month! But then I dealt with it like I usually do (i.e. immediately refusing to think about it any more and gobbling up as much chocolate as I could find. [And I went shopping.]).

So I'm a little behind on my posts! However, a while back, I went to the Rubin Museum and decided to document it. I have been trying to see all the NYC museums I haven't already seen before I graduate. And I live closer to the Rubin Museum than I do Trader Joe's, so I figured somewhere close to home was a good place to start.

The Rubin Museum specializes in art from the Himalayas and the surrounding area. There is tons of really old Buddhist art, which was really neat to learn about! I took a Philosophy of Religion class last semester, and we spent part of the course studying Buddhism, so I was excited to put my knowledge to use. It's disrespectful to take photos of the religious imagery, but I did get some pictures of the contemporary art.

So I found myself quite inspired by the Lukhang Murals, which are from a secret temple of Dalai Lamas in Tibet. The actual murals themselves aren't at the Rubin Museum, but they have a room with photographic representations. The colors are so beautiful and the murals so detailed. So I plopped down in the corner of the room and did some ekphrastic writing.

Here is the room I was in. Like I said, it's disrespectful to take photos, but I found this picture online. I was particularly enraptured with the mural on the right side of the photo and underneath it is where I was sitting. 

This was one of my favorite pieces at the Rubin Museum! This artist also has another series of these paintings at the Brooklyn Museum

Love this staircase in the middle of the museum.

Another cool piece from a contemporary artist.

Big gleaming lobby

This shows the date I actually went to the museum. I told you this post was long overdue.

Awkwardly trying to take a picture of myself with my admittance sticker while a security guard lurks nearby, glancing at me with a paradoxical mix of suspicion and apathy

So yeah, that's it for this edition of Kirsten Tries to Get Cultured. I love quiet gray days at museums by myself.