On Sunday morning I woke up to an email with the same subject line as the title for this blog post. Intrigued, I opened it up to find that Joe had sent me seven clues of works of art at the Met that all had to do with love, and I was tasked with identifying the art. I was excited to get started and my mind began racing through the galleries to think of what each piece could be.
With Joe’s permission, I’m sharing these clues because this was such a fun date and can be done at anytime in the year!
Clue 1
This Hindu couple may be a few hundred years old, but by the look of this pose they no doubt knew how to have a rockin’ good time.
For this clue we headed to the Asian wing (even though I mistakenly started in Islamic art…Hinduism and Islam are two different religions, Alyssa. All I can say is I was so excited to begin I just ran to the closest gallery when we entered at 81st street!). Based on the “rockin good time” I figured we were looking for a sculpture and found these lovers.
Clue 2
Cupid may be close by, but this French Knight has eyes for the Harp player.
At first I was headed to French decorative arts (you’ll see why when you read clue 3) or I was thinking of European Paintings 1250-1800. Joe revealed that it wasn’t in the European Paintings section and then I realized there was one other area with paintings and porcelain. On to the British galleries to find Cupid!
Clue 3
These two porcelain lovers are close to Cupid and the Knight, but they couldn’t be more different.
You can see now that the clues built on one another! This little object was built to hold perfume (no snuff boxes were part of this scavenger hunt. It would have been too easy 😂). Joe said he thought these lovers were different because they were looking longingly into each others eyes, where the knight couldn’t even get a glance from the harp player.
Clue 4
She may not have arms, but this Roman goddess doesn’t need them to strike a pose.
I’d say this was the most straightforward clue of the bunch. We actually ended on this one because I wanted to save it for last as it was near the exit haha. Check out good old Aphrodite in all her glory.
Clue 5
This sunny portrait of a lady and her dog clearly shows they are up to something – I wonder if the letter would illuminate what it is?
I knew where to go right away for this one because it was the last section Joe and I had gone to on our previous visit. Off to European Paintings! I remember specifically liking this room with many paintings of women.
Clue 6
Lehman will tell you, this Saintly Lady will literally give her heart to you: if you’ll have it.
We headed to the back of the museum to the Lehman galleries. This is a unique section of the museum because when Lehman donated his art it was with the stipulation that it would always be displayed in a specific way in his galleries. The art was so good that the Met had to accept.
The piece I was looking for was pretty small, but I carefully scanned the galleries and found this image of St. Catherine of Siena!
Clue 7
A certain Dutch artist may have struggled financially in his time, but if he were to give you these white roses on Valentine’s day, you’d be set for life.
This ended up being the first piece I identified – not because I knew what it was right away, but because Joe gave me some extra hints so we didn’t end up in the completely wrong section. Nothing like a good van Gogh.
This was the perfect Valentine’s Day gift! Joe is now available for requests, so if you have a theme you want a scavenger hunt built around, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
How did you celebrate Valentine’s Day? Is this your idea of a good time?
Leave a Reply