The Metropolitan
The Metropolitan Museum Of Art, New York City, or the Met, as it is fondly known, is one of the premier museum's in America. Its collections are extensive and their web site is excellent.

1. The Collection Started in 1870, the Metropolitan Museum's collection now contains more than two million works of art from all over the world, and from ancient through modern times. About 3,500 objects, fifty highlights from each of the Museum's curatorial departments as well as the entire department of European Paintings, can be searched by artist, period, style, or keyword.

2. Explore & Learn Here is another entry way into the Met's collection. There's a kids' section, explorations of artists' studios, discussions of objects in the collection, a Themes and Cultures section, and daily featured art works. You can explore here for a good introduction organized by areas of interest.

3. Timeline The Timeline of Art History (through the year 2000) is searchable by time period or by a world map. This is a site rich with images and historical background on art. It begins with the earliest images in Africa from 80,000 BC through the most modern paintings, sculptures and photographs. New materials and special features are being added all the time. There are links to external sites around the world for more information about highlighted images. This includes Western and Non-Western Art.

4. You can also explore other works from the Met's collection by taking the The Director's Tour.

5. Or you can look at some of the artworks recently purchased by the Met in Recent Acquisitions.

6. Do you like architecture or interior design? Then take a virtual reality tour of one of the many fascinating Period Rooms.

7. The Metropolitan Search will let you search their collection by artist, type of artwork, origin and/or date. Just type in the information in the proper box and make sure that you spell it correctly. Remember there are over 2,000 digital images of the European Paintings collection.