Picking up where we left off, our exploration of the world’s greatest art temples presses on. If you haven’t checked out Part 1 yet, we highly recommend giving it a read first: Must-Visit in This Lifetime: Four of the World's Greatest Art Temples (Part 1)

State Hermitage Museum (Winter Palace)

Established: 1764
Location：Saint Petersburg, Palace Square, 2
Admission:
General admission: 500 Roubles
Free-of-charge visits each Thursday for pensioners (citizens of the Russian Federation and other states of the Eurasian Economic Union)
For other ticket purchase discounts, please refer to the official website.
Opening hours:
11:00 AM-6:00 PM: Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays
11:00 AM-8:00 PM: Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays
Closed: Mondays, 1 January and 9 May
Official Website: https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/panorama?lng=en

The Hermitage Museum (Winter Palace), located on Palace Square in St. Petersburg, was designed by the renowned architect Rastrelli. Originally the private museum of Empress Catherine II of Russia, housing her collection of paintings and books, it was officially established as the State Hermitage Museum in 1922. The Winter Palace complex includes the main Winter Palace, the Small Hermitage, the Old Hermitage, the New Hermitage, the Hermitage Theatre, and other parts, covering a total area of 233,000 square meters. After the October Revolution, the original Winter Palace was converted into part of the museum. It is an outstanding example of mid-18th-century Russian Neoclassical architecture, boasting over 3 million artifacts, making it the museum with the world's largest collection of paintings (slightly more than the Louvre). Other collections are also very rich, including Russian, Eastern European and Caucasian artifacts, Central Asian and steppe artifacts, weapons, and jewelry.

Representative collections include two Madonna paintings by Leonardo da Vinci from the Renaissance period, Raphael's Madonna Conestabile; Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son; and Matisse's The Dance, all extremely valuable masterpieces. Michelangelo's Crouching Boy, the Gonzaga relief, and the Pazyryk carpet are also worth seeing. Today, we will focus on two distinctly styled yet equally stunning paintings.

The Return of the Prodigal Son: An Epic of Humanity in Light and Darkness

Rembrandt van Rijn, one of Europe’s greatest 17th-century painters and the most celebrated artist in Dutch history, created this renowned work. Art historian Kenneth Clark described it as: “A picture which those who have seen the original in St. Petersburg may be forgiven for claiming as the greatest picture ever painted.” Instead of depicting the entire biblical narrative of the prodigal son, the painting captures the most emotionally charged moment: the wayward son, ragged and dust-covered, kneels before his father in repentance, while the elderly father bends down to embrace him, his eyes filled with compassion and forgiveness.

Employing Rembrandt’s signature “chiaroscuro” technique, the composition uses large areas of dark tones as a profound backdrop, drawing the viewer’s focus firmly to the figures. Each person's expression in the painting tells something, and we, the viewers, also will interpret them differently. 

This work is not only an artistic interpretation of a religious story, but also a profound exploration of the essence of family, redemption, and humanity, and is worth repeated appreciation of its details.

The Dance and Music: Pioneers of the Color Revolution

When discussing color innovation in modern art, the French artist Henri Matisse is undoubtedly an indispensable figure. With his bold and unrestrained use of color, he broke through the constraints of traditional art, propelling art further towards modernization. His works Dance and Music, housed in the Hermitage Museum, are representative of his transitional period, not only representing Matisse's first attempts at architectural decoration but also marking his shift from Impressionism to modern abstraction.
These two paintings, similar in size and stylistically unified, embody Matisse's bold exploration of color and form in his later Fauvist period. Dance depicts silhouettes of five dancers, outlined with fluid and simple lines, holding hands in a circle, their limbs outstretched, displaying boundless vitality. The painting lacks a complex background and colors, using only three pure colors: red, green, and blue. The high-saturation color contrast and the dynamic, expansive composition convey a primal and unrestrained life force.
In contrast, Music presents the power of color in a more restrained way: the painting depicts five figures, from left to right, one standing and four sitting. The figure standing on the far left is playing the violin, almost filling the entire canvas. To his right is a seated person playing a double-reed flute, followed by three people squatting on the ground with their knees drawn up and mouths open, seemingly singing. The lines connecting these five figures form a composition resembling the capital letter M, the first letter of "Music," hinting at the painting's theme. Viewing Matisse's work, the viewer seems to be immersed in the balanced and serene atmosphere created by vibrant colors and flowing lines.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Established: 1870
Location：1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY
Admission:
$30 for adults; $22 for seniors; $17 for students.
Free for Members, Patrons, and children 12 and under.
$22 for visitors with a disability; free for a caregiver of a visitor with a disability (in person only).
Opening hours:
10:00 AM-5:00 PM: Sunday to Tuesday and Thursday
10:00 AM-9:00 PM: Friday and Saturday
Closed: Wednesday
Public holidays: Closed Thanksgiving Day, December 25, January 1, and the first Monday in May.
Official Website: https://www.metmuseum.org/

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Metropolitan Museum of Art) is the largest museum in the United States and a must-see art mecca for almost every visitor to New York City. Founded in 1870 by the New York State Legislature to encourage and develop the application of art in production and daily life and to enhance public cultural literacy, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection primarily comes from acquisitions and donations from various sectors of society, encompassing a wide range of artworks from around the world, including some important interior design works in art history.
Among the world's four major museum clusters, the Metropolitan Museum of Art is the youngest, and its operational model and exhibition layout are subtly ingenious. As early as 1908, it pioneered the establishment of the world's first museum gift shop, initiating the development of museum cultural products. Even more commendable is the way the spatial design of different exhibition halls often echoes their exhibition themes; for example, the Chinese art gallery features a specially designed Chinese garden courtyard, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in and directly experience the charm of Eastern aesthetics. Among the many exhibition areas, the Egyptian Antiquities section consistently maintains high popularity, with the Temple of Dendur from ancient Egypt being the most dazzling highlight.

Dendur Temple: A Gift from Ancient Egypt Across the Ocean

This temple's history isn't as long as other ancient Egyptian artifacts. It was only built around 10 BC, when Egypt was under Roman rule. Where was it located? At the Aswan High Dam in what is now southern Egypt. In 1963, the construction of the dam caused the lake to rise, threatening to submerge upstream and nearby artifacts. The United States initiated a series of relocation efforts to help Egypt move and relocate its artifacts. In gratitude for this transnational friendship, Egypt gifted this small temple to the United States.
In ancient Egyptian culture, temples were not merely simple places of worship; their design and decoration carried various religious and mythological metaphors. Dendur Temple is a vivid example of this cultural logic. It replicates the ancient Egyptians' understanding of the natural order through its architectural language: the temple's base is lined with carvings of papyrus and lotus plants, seemingly growing from the water, symbolizing the image of Hapi, the Nile god. The two pillars in the portico stand tall, like tall papyrus stalks bundled with lotus flowers. Above the main gate and temple entrance is an image of a sun disk, flanked by the outstretched wings of Horus, the god of the sky. The sky is also represented by a vulture with outstretched wings appearing on the ceiling of the entrance porch. Every detail subtly reveals the ancient Egyptians' cosmology, making it a veritable three-dimensional mythological text.

The Medicine Buddha Sutra: A Treasured Oriental Art Treasure Through a Long and Winding Journey

This massive mural, the Medicine Buddha Sutra, comes from the Lower Guangsheng Temple in Hongdong County, Shanxi Province, China. It is a masterpiece of Yuan Dynasty murals, over 700 years old. The exhibit we see today is the original piece that was peeled off the walls of the Lower Guangsheng Temple.

The mural's transnational journey was fraught with difficulties. In the 1920s, China was in turmoil, warlords were ruling, and the people suffered greatly. The Guangsheng Temple fell into disrepair, and the monks had no money to support themselves or maintain the temple. In 1929, the monks sold the Medicine Buddha Sutra mural to two American businessmen for 1600 silver dollars, barely managing to keep the temple afloat. After changing hands several times, the mural eventually reached the United States, where it was acquired by an American dentist. This dentist was Arthur Sackler, a renowned American collector of Chinese art in the 1960s. He purchased several wooden crates containing fragments of the mural at an auction. Sackler was a passionate collector of Chinese artifacts and possessed a large collection of rare Chinese treasures. Because the mural was too large to store or display at home, in 1964, Sackler, in his mother's name, donated it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, bringing it back into the public eye.

The mural, titled "The Medicine Buddha Sutra," was broken into hundreds of pieces when it was sold. The Metropolitan Museum of Art meticulously restored it to its original state and placed it in the largest gallery of its Chinese collection, quickly making it one of the museum's most famous Chinese art pieces. This "Medicine Buddha Sutra" mural is 15.2 meters long and 7.52 meters high, with vibrant colors and a total area of 196 square meters. Even in China, it is rare to see a Yuan Dynasty mural restored to such a complete state. This provides a precious opportunity for global audiences to appreciate the essence of ancient Chinese mural art up close.
Seeing is believing. After reading these words, have you already felt a longing for a particular artifact? However, this is just the tip of the iceberg of the vast collections of the four major museums. Each artifact is a witness to historical changes. When we gaze at these treasures, we are not only appreciating art, but also engaging in a dialogue with a civilization from thousands of years ago. If you have the opportunity to embark on a journey, you must stand in front of the display case and encounter them in person. The awe and joy of this firsthand experience far surpasses what words and pictures can provide.