Who Founded the Metropolitan Museum of Art?

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870. It was founded in New York by a conglomeration of citizens in America that wanted to promote art and the education of art to the American people.

The group of citizens who founded the Metropolitan Museum of Art included artists, thinkers, financiers, and businessmen.

The original idea for the museum came on Fourth of July as a group of Americans were celebrating in Paris, France. A prominent lawyer at the time, John Jay, gave a speech during the celebration that suggested to his colleagues that a national museum of art was needed.

Over the course of the next four years, John Jay spent much of his time encouraging people to invest in the idea. This included such investors as thinkers, financiers, artists, and sculptors. It was not until 1870 that John and his colleagues finally convinced civic leaders in America to open such a museum.

Art collectors were persuaded as well to invest to provide the complete museum with the first initial painting collections. Although the first couple of years were rocky as displays were shown in other locations in the surrounding area, the Metropolitan Museum of Art soon took over and eventually moved to its current location where it still stands today. This location is close to Central Park.

History of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Although the idea of the museum was founded in 1870 and the collection of paintings began right away, the building was not physically on location and available to display art until initial construction was completed in 1880.

No bigger than a mere storefront property after initial construction, the present building with its additional wings still sits in the same place it did when the founders thought up the idea and started construction. This location is in the heart of New York City at Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street near Central Park.

Every year it is estimated that approximately six million individuals visit this museum, now known to many simply as the “Met.” As they take in the sheer size of the building and are awed by the three million works of art contained inside, they fail to look at the history of the building itself. However, the history of the building is just as fascinating as the works of art contained inside of its walls.

From The Founding to the Present

The Museum of Metropolitan Art continued to be funded privately over the years, primarily paid for by those who had interest in promoting the ideas of art itself and the education of art to the American people. However, as the building became larger throughout time, more and more art was displayed inside of the museum, and more tourists and art enthusiasts flocked to see what the “Met” had to offer. The ownership of the museum was officially passed on to the state of New York, instead of being held privately.

The state currently relies on volunteers and the donations of art enthusiasts to maintain the museum and keep it a place where tourists like to come and see works of art from every type from all over the globe. They not only rely on financial donations, but the state also relies on donations of works of art themselves to be housed and displayed within the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Today, tourists flock to the location on a yearly basis to take in all the amazing works of art contained within. Knowing the history of the building itself and how the idea of it came to be is just as fascinating as understanding the works of art that have been collected inside.