Metropolitan Museum Observes Martin Luther King Jr. Day With "Met Holiday Monday"

Galleries, shops, and dining facilities at The Metropolitan Museum of Art will be open to the public on January 17 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day), the next in the series of popular "Met Holiday Mondays."

"The Museum is pleased to participate in the national observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day by opening on Monday, January 17," commented Emily K. Rafferty, President of the Metropolitan Museum. "In addition to an array of fascinating special exhibitions, and a series of discussion and sketching activities designed to engage children and their parents, the Met offers its visitors an encyclopedic Permanent Collection-works of art from all parts of the world and all historical periods. These works have the power to reach us in deeply personal ways, by providing an opportunity for inspiration, reflection, or wonder."

The Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend is the final opportunity to see two exhibitions: Miró: The Dutch Interiors, a presentation that juxtaposes three early 20th- century avant-garde paintings by Barcelona-born Joan Miró with the two paintings from the Dutch Golden Age that inspired them, and Man, Myth, and Sensual Pleasures: Jan Gossart's Renaissance, the first major exhibition in 45 years devoted to the pivotal Old Master who changed the course of Flemish art from the legacy of Jan van Eyck and charted new artistic territory. Also on view will be Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand, featuring more than 100 works from the Metropolitan Museum's collection by three giants of photography: Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, and Paul Strand (closing April 10).

Charles H. Tally Holiday Monday Family Programs specially organized for Martin Luther King Jr. Day include discussion and sketching activities that will be available for families with children ages 5 through 12 at 11 a.m., noon, 1:15 and 2:30 p.m. These programs are free with Museum admission.

The Metropolitan's public cafeteria and several of the Museum gift shops in the Main Building will be open on all Holiday Mondays.

The Museum will open the doors of its main building this winter and spring on three additional major Monday holidays: Presidents' Day (February 21), Spring Break (April 25), and Memorial Day (May 30).

A different selection of galleries and exhibitions will be open each Holiday Monday.