Discover the hidden secrets of the Metropolitan Museum of Art from one of its protectors. Former MET guard, Patrick Bringley, discusses his new book, All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me. All the Beauty in the World is a surprising, inspiring portrait of a great museum, its hidden treasures, and the people who make it tick, by one of its most intimate observers.
Millions of people climb the grand marble staircase to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art every year. But only a select few have unrestricted access to every nook and cranny. They’re the guards who roam unobtrusively in dark blue suits, keeping a watchful eye on the two million square foot treasure house. Patrick Bringley never thought he’d be one of them. Then his older brother was diagnosed with fatal cancer, and he found himself needing to escape the mundane clamor of daily life. So, he quit his job at The New Yorker and sought solace in the most beautiful place he knew. This temporary refuge became Bringley’s home away from home for a decade. As his bonds with his colleagues and the art grow, Bringley comes to understand how fortunate he is to be walled off in this little world, and how much it resembles the best aspects of the larger world to which he gradually, gratefully returns.
Patrick Bringley worked for ten years as a guard in the galleries of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Prior to that, he worked in the editorial events office at The New Yorker magazine. All the Beauty in the World is his first book.