In October half term, 17 of the IB Art students travelled to New York City for a total of three days. New York is notorious for being the home of some of the finest works of art in the world, along with housing art of new, upcoming and contemporary artists. It is one of the main art capitals of the world, along with Paris and London. For any artist or art student, the galleries of New York simply must be visited at some stage in their lives.
On the first day, after a long journey and a good night’s sleep in the hotel, we had breakfast in a classic American local diner, and then walked to the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art), which is the largest art museum in the USA. For any Gossip Girl fans, the MET steps served as an optimum photo opportunity. Here, we were able to see ancient art including drawings, paintings and sculptures from some of the most famous artists in the world. My personal favourites were the Impressionist paintings of Monet and Degas. After spending most of the day at the MET, we walked to Times Square and along Broadway to Planet Hollywood, where we had dinner before going to the Rockefeller Centre for the “Top of the Rock” experience. Here we were able to view New York from the 70th floor of the Rockefeller Plaza, which was especially beautiful at nighttime.
The next day we walked through Central Park to the Guggenheim Museum. The building itself was stunning and architecturally unique, and the Alberto Burri collection was equally as impressive. After a lunch of our own choice, we went to MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) and had dinner at Hard Rock Café before the Harbour Lights Cruise, where we saw the Statue of Liberty.
On our final day, we got the metro to the High Line and went to the Whitney Museum. This consisted of a vast, monumental collection of contemporary American art. This was surprisingly my favourite gallery as I saw pieces that I had never seen before, and it was an entirely different style of art to the other galleries, however still showed a vast amount of imagination and skill. In the afternoon, some of the group went to the 9/11 Memorial Museum and the rest went to 5th Avenue for some shopping.
Finally, it was time to return home. I personally did not want to leave! Speaking on behalf of the entire group; we had an absolutely amazing time and learnt so much and will remember it forever. We would like to sincerely thank Mr Barratt, Miss Shah and of course Miss Delpech especially, for organizing and taking us on the trip.Sophie Bruxner-Randall
