As the U.S. celebrates its 250th anniversary this week, New York Art Tours is taking a trip to the Met Museum’s outstanding American art collection to check out some classics and lesser-known highlights. One of the first pieces that visitors to the second-floor encounter is this large, recently acquired painting from 1915 by Polish-born New Yorker Theresa Bernstein. Titled ‘Music Lovers,’ Bernstein pictures visitors to the Met Opera, then located near 39th Street, lining up to purchase tickets. Ranging from the Italian man in his characteristic craftsman’s hat at the ticket window to a well-to-do couple in top hat and fascinator, the assorted audience members (including Bernstein’s mom in the white collar) come from different backgrounds but gather in their shared appreciation for music. (On view in gallery 772 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art).
