Armor of Emperor Ferdinand I (1503-1564), made in Nuremberg, 1549. Steel, brass, and leather. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Made for Emperor Ferdinand I in Nuremberg, 1549. Steel, brass, leather — every surface built to protect and impress. It looks like a machine. Then you remember it was shaped entirely by human hands. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
#ArmsAndArmor #MetMuseum #FerdinandI #OpenAccessArt
These are the Mountains of Creation — star-forming pillars in the constellation Cassiopeia, 7,000 light-years away. They are 10 times the size of Hubble's famous Pillars of Creation. NASA's Spitzer Te...
These are the Mountains of Creation — star-forming pillars in the constellation Cassiopeia, 7,000 light-years away. They are 10 times the size of Hubble's famous Pillars of Creation. NASA's Spitzer Telescope captured this in infrared — light our eyes can't detect. Inside every glowing tip: a...
Illuminated Byzantine manuscript page from around 1100 AD, with gold leaf, pigments, and parchment.
Made in Constantinople around 1100 AD. Gold leaf, hand-ground pigments, ink on parchment — a book built by monks to outlast empires. It did. Nine centuries later it’s still in near-perfect condition. The Byzantine scribes who made this never imagined New York. At the Met.
Illuminated Byzantine manuscript page from around 1100 AD, with gold leaf, pigments, and parchment.
Made in Constantinople around 1100 AD. Gold leaf, hand-ground pigments, ink on parchment — a book built by monks to outlast empires. It did. Nine centuries later it’s still in near-perfect condition. The Byzantine scribes who made this never imagined New York. At the Met.
Canopic jar lid depicting Kiya at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Kiya — a secondary queen of Akhenaten, and possibly Tutankhamun's mother. This canopic jar once held her organs and was excavated from Tomb KV55 in 1907. Egyptologists still debate who she really was. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art. #AncientEgypt #MetMuseum #Tutankhamun
Akan gold weight from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
A brass weight smaller than a matchbook ran an entire economy. Akan traders measured gold dust with these. The geometric patterns encode proverbs. Hundreds at the Met's Rockefeller Wing. 🏛️
#AkanArt #WestAfrica #AfricanArt #MetMuseum #GoldWeight #PrecolonialAfrica #OpenAccessArt #MuseumLife
Vermeer's A Maid Asleep, ca. 1656. A young woman rests her head on her hand at a table with a wine glass and rumpled tablecloth, a half-open door behind her.
She's just asleep. Or is she? Vermeer's A Maid Asleep (ca. 1656) has a secret — X-ray reveals a man originally stood in the doorway watching her. He was painted out. The wine glass, rumpled tablecloth, half-open door. One painting. Five centuries of speculation. At the Met.
Full suit of Japanese samurai armor (Ashikaga Takauji) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
This is a full suit of Japanese armor belonging to Ashikaga Takauji, a 14th-century shogun. Every piece — the lacquered scales, the silk lacing, the horned helmet — was made to intimidate and to protect. It weighs over 30 pounds. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art. ⚔️
Hokusai's The Great Wave, c. 1831. Mount Fuji is the tiny white triangle in the background — almost invisible beneath the force of water. Hokusai made this at 72 years old. He called himself the old man crazy about painting. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 🌊
Hokusai's The Great Wave, c. 1831. Mount Fuji is the tiny white triangle in the background — almost invisible beneath the force of water. Hokusai made this at 72 years old. He called himself the old man crazy about painting. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 🌊
Photo taken from the International Space Station showing Earth from 250 miles above.
Taken from the ISS at 17,500 mph, 250 miles above Earth. Astronauts orbit the planet 16 times a day — every 45 minutes, a new sunrise. Track the ISS live at NASA.gov and spot it with the naked eye most nights. 🌍
#ISS #NASA #SpaceStation #EarthFromSpace #Astronaut #SpaceExploration #ScienceMuseum
Europa close-up from NASA/JPL-Caltech
This is Europa — one of Jupiter's moons. That cracked surface is a shell of ice over a liquid ocean that may contain more water than all of Earth's oceans combined. NASA's Europa Clipper launched in 2024 to find out what's underneath. Follow the mission at the Air and Space Museum. 🌊
Edo period Japanese helmet in the shape of a crouching rabbit, Metropolitan Museum of Art
This is a Japanese helmet shaped like a crouching rabbit. Made in the Edo period, it was never meant for battle — it was status, artistry, and a little bit of wit. The samurai who wore it wanted you to look twice. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 🐇
#JapaneseArt #SamuraiArmor #MetMuseum #EdoPeriod
Buzz Aldrin on the Moon, July 20, 1969. Photographed by Neil Armstrong.
Look at Buzz Aldrin’s visor. That reflection is Neil Armstrong taking this photo. July 20, 1969. The Columbia command module that brought all three astronauts home is at the National Air and Space Museum in DC — free admission. People walked past it on the way to get coffee this morning. 🚀
#Apollo1
The Rocky Mountains by Albert Bierstadt, 1863 — dramatic landscape with towering peaks. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Standing before The Rocky Mountains by Albert Bierstadt, 1863. The scale, the light breaking through clouds — this is America before the interstate. You can stand in front of it at the Met in NYC. 🏔️
#AlbertBierstadt #AmericanArt #MetMuseum #LandscapePainting #OpenAccessArt #MuseumLife
Winslow Homer, The Gulf Stream, 1899, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Winslow Homer's The Gulf Stream (1899) doesn't look away. A man adrift, sharks circling, a distant waterspout. Beauty and danger in equal measure — one of the most powerful American paintings ever made. 🌊
#WinslowHomer #AmericanArt #MetMuseum #GulfStream #MarineArt #OpenAccessArt #MuseumLife
The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak by Albert Bierstadt, 1863
The Rocky Mountains, Lander's Peak — Albert Bierstadt, 1863. The scale, the light breaking through clouds… this is America before the interstate. 🏔️
#AlbertBierstadt #HudsonRiverSchool #AmericanArt #MetMuseum #MuseumLife