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All the Beauty in the World
All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me | Patrick Bringley
41 posts | 26 read | 26 to read
A fascinating, revelatory portrait of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and its treasures by a former New Yorker staffer who spent a decade as a museum guard. 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. Theyre the guards who roam unobtrusively in dark blue suits, keeping a watchful eye on the two million square foot treasure house. Caught up in his glamorous fledgling career at The New Yorker, Patrick Bringley never thought hed 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 The New Yorker and sought solace in the most beautiful place he knew. To his surprise and the readers delight, this temporary refuge becomes Bringleys home away from home for a decade. We follow him as he guards delicate treasures from Egypt to Rome, strolls the labyrinths beneath the galleries, wears out nine pairs of company shoes, and marvels at the beautiful works in his care. Bringley enters the museum as a ghost, silent and almost invisible, but soon finds his voice and his tribe: the artworks and their creators and the lively subculture of museum guardsa gorgeous mosaic of artists, musicians, blue-collar stalwarts, immigrants, cutups, and dreamers. As his bonds with his colleagues and the art grow, he 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. In the tradition of classic workplace memoirs like Lab Girl and Working Stiff, 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.
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HeatherBookNerd
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Pickpick

After the death of his brother, Brinkley left his job at the New Yorker in search of something quieter, allowing the headspace to grieve and ponder. He took a job as a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and stayed for 10 years. This book documents his decade at The Met, how the art and his fellow guards changed him as he processed his brother‘s death and forged his own identity. It‘s really beautiful and interesting.

mcctrish I really enjoyed this 1mo
HeatherBookNerd @mcctrish me too! Just lovely 1mo
40 likes1 stack add2 comments
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TheSpineView
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JenReadsAlot I almost bought that book yesterday... 2mo
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Looks good! 2mo
TheSpineView @JenReadsAlot 👍🤩📖 1mo
62 likes1 stack add4 comments
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IndoorDame
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#AboutABook #Published2003 @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I read an e-version of this because having a pdf at the end with links to all the art being referenced was amazing, but I sort of want to get a physical copy and fill it with little printouts of the images. Has anyone done something similar? Would you use a hardcover or paperback for a project like that?

Eggs Beautiful! And great idea 💡! 5mo
kspenmoll I did not realize the e-book would provide those resources. That‘s impressive. I have physical book. That sounds easier than looking up each artwork as listed. 5mo
IndoorDame @kspenmoll one or two of the links are broken and you still need to look up those pieces, and I‘m guessing a few more will degrade over time, but it‘s helpful enough that if you do a reread I‘d borrow an e-copy from the library and just use the appendix alongside your hard copy 5mo
BarbaraJean I'm SO glad I read the ebook for this one, for this same reason!! I'd love to have the actual images throughout--I'd definitely use a hardcover for a project like that. 5mo
44 likes4 comments
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BarbaraJean
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Pickpick

Combining glimpses of his life with reflections on art, Bringley narrates his experiences as a museum guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. I enjoyed this unique tour through the Met—and am so glad I read the digital version. A section at the back has links to the artworks referenced in the text, so I was able to read on my Kindle while keeping my laptop open to the notes page, clicking through to each artwork as it was discussed.⤵️

BarbaraJean This was a soft pick because of a fairly minor quibble: Bringley weaves in personal anecdotes throughout the text, as they intersect with his experiences in the museum, and often these felt like they needed more development (or less)! His reflections on the death of his brother were poignantly woven throughout, but other threads felt like they were touched on too briefly or dropped too quickly. 5mo
squirrelbrain I expected to love this, and only liked it, for the reasons you describe. 5mo
32 likes2 comments
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mcctrish
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This isn‘t exactly a book about mindfulness. The author loses his brother suddenly to an aggressive form of cancer, it upends his world. He leaves a beloved ( but challenging) job at The New Yorker to be a guard at the Met, the most beautiful place he knows. This story covers his 10 years as a guard where the art soothes him and he begins to recover and watch how the art helps others. It was meditative to listen to #fridaynightshare #litsolace

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kspenmoll
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I have yet to read this tagged book.
This past September 2023 we took a train to NYC to see the Manet/Degas exhibit. What an experience-
#storysettings #may26 #museum

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks So pretty 😍 7mo
53 likes1 comment
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TheSpineView
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Eggs Looks soooo good! 7mo
TheSpineView @Eggs 👍🤩🌞 7mo
50 likes2 comments
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anushareflects
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Pickpick

A lovely book that‘s part memoir of a man who spent 10 years as a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to cope with the grief of losing his older brother to cancer. Meditative, funny, charming. Perfect for art lovers, lots of inside references, artwork mentions, and overall a lovely read.

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IndoorDame
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Pickpick

Patrick Bringley writes about moving through grief, living well, and the meaning of art through the lens of his 10 years as a museum guard at the MET. This really spoke to me, and I went crazy highlighting kindle passages. There were several years of my childhood when I spent most weekends at The Met. With a museum that size I obviously don‘t know every painting or even every gallery he talks about, but I remember many.⬇️⬇️⬇️

IndoorDame Revisiting the museum in my mind this way, with Bringley as a guide has been an amazing experience. Conjuring up my child reaction to those pieces and hearing that contrasted with Bringley‘s experience and interpretation of the same pieces gave me the most fascinating insights about art appreciation. 11mo
jen_the_scribe I‘ve never been to the MET but it‘s on my bucket list. This one sounds insightful, stacked! 11mo
TheBookHippie ♥️♥️♥️♥️ 11mo
Itchyfeetreader This sounds wonderful 11mo
67 likes3 stack adds4 comments
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IndoorDame
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For our last communal #hyggehour (though I‘ll totally be continuing this Sunday night tradition) I‘m bouncing between the kindle text and the audio of the tagged book, and taking many forays into Google to see color images of the art Bringley‘s looking at and refresh my background knowledge on the artists. #midwintersolace #naturalitsy

TheBookHippie Beautiful!!! I want to read this book too! 11mo
IndoorDame @TheBookHippie I think you‘d love it! 11mo
Avanders Last?! 😟 11mo
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IndoorDame @Avanders I‘m certainly not giving up the tradition! (though you may not see me posting about it) No reason you should. It‘s been such a great addition to my week. 11mo
Avanders It‘s such a wonderful idea/tradition! ☺️ 11mo
TheBookHippie @IndoorDame I think we‘re going to extend it 🙃 11mo
IndoorDame @TheBookHippie that‘s awesome!!! 11mo
mcctrish I really enjoyed this book and I‘m happy Sunday hygge continues 11mo
49 likes8 comments
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IndoorDame
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In the basement of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, below the Arms and Armor wing and outside the guards' Dispatch Office, there are stacks of empty art crates. #FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

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DocBrown
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Pickpick

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My 1st 3 2024 reads have all been about NYC, but this one is the best! After walking thru Central Park, my son & I spent hours in the vast Met Museum. The book brought it all back for me. Author narration is an acquired taste but I appreciated his musings on art, love, work, family, friendships, the city, the passage of time, beginnings & endings & everything in between. All the love for this gem. My fave work memoir since Skyfaring.

Texreader Love this!!! 11mo
DocBrown @Texreader Thank you!!! I love it too!! 11mo
61 likes2 comments
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wen4blu
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Listening to this one while running errands and this quiet book feels like the perfect counterpoint to all the holiday craziness.

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mcctrish
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Pickpick

PB left his job at the New Yorker and got a job working in what he considered the most beautiful place he knew after he lost his brother suddenly to cancer. His frank recounting of his overwhelming grief after the loss of his brother is hard to listen to while driving to work in the morning but the level of care he shows himself as he navigates his loss and tries to cope is remarkable.

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mcctrish
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Still working on this magical set

peanutnine The salt! 😅 14mo
mcctrish @peanutnine I laughed out loud 14mo
55 likes2 comments
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mcctrish
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Roof is going on and I‘m loving this book

dabbe 🤩🤩🤩 14mo
DinoMom OMG! You have the hocus pocus house!!!! I am so excited for you. I asked for it for Christmas. 14mo
mcctrish @dabbe slow and steady 14mo
mcctrish @DinoMom it‘s so awesome, I have saved it to make now and got so behind with writing reports for school 😩 Halloween and witching will be going on for a few days past Halloween 👻 which is fine by me 14mo
dabbe @mcctrish It's sheer awesomeness 😎 14mo
39 likes5 comments
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mcctrish
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Marking, laundry, stew making, week planning and pretending I‘m doing none of it and spending time in the Met instead ❤️

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ChaoticMissAdventures
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Mehso-so

I would recommend the physical book over the audio here. There is something older about the tone and cadence the narrator reads this in and I was confused when the author says he was born in 1983. It just doesn't match the tone of the book. This is a quick read, with many little gems but overall I am underwhelmed by it.
3⭐

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Robotswithpersonality
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Pickpick

A delight. Rarely have I encountered a non-fiction book about art and not craved most to be standing in front of those pieces being discussed, but the author's journey brings a unique and personal viewpoint to that art, to the time in his life where he chose to guard it as a profession, to the people he encountered there, to the events in his life that began and ended this period. It's beautiful in and of itself, for loving both art and life. 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/2 Bringley speaks with such a simple solemnity about grief, such a peaceful levity about appreciation, about humanity. I sincerely hope to read more from him in the future. If you get the chance, I recommend a tandem read. The meditative pace at which the author himself reads the audio book invites quiet contemplation, and the physical book includes both a handy reference guide to what works are discussed, but also studies in sketches of various of these works by a modern illustrator. ⚠️terminal illness 1y
CaitlinR Great review, thanks for sharing it with us. 1y
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Robotswithpersonality
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Yeah, the majority of my memories of studying Roman emperors backs up the comparison to temperamental toddlers. 🤨

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Robotswithpersonality
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Such a singular pleasure to read from someone writing about what they love. ♥️

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Robotswithpersonality
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"I think that sometimes we need permission to stop and adore, and a work of art grants is that." ?

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Robotswithpersonality
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🤦🏼‍♂️🫣

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Robotswithpersonality
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Poetic people-watching. I always appreciate well-considered categorization. ☺️

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Robotswithpersonality
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Respect this book more for having acknowledged the elephant in the room for western museums.
Re👏🏻pa👏🏻tri👏🏻ate!👏🏻

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Robotswithpersonality
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YES. 🎨♥️

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Robotswithpersonality
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I enjoy the idea of describing architecture as "very columny". If I could have gotten away with that in my art history electives I would have! ☺️

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Robotswithpersonality
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Took exactly one page to make me smile. I needed this. 😌

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squirrelbrain
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Pickpick

I was really looking forward to this one for #titlesandtunes #theworldismyoyster and it didn‘t *quite* live up to expectations.

Still a good pick, but not going to trouble my favourites books of the year. It just felt a bit dry in places to me and some of the museum lingo wasn‘t explained properly so I didn‘t ever get fully engrossed or feel like I was actually there, visiting The Met.

TrishB I got this on 99p offer so I have low expectations 😁 1y
kspenmoll Oh no, i have this & did have high expectations! 1y
squirrelbrain @TrishB @kspenmoll - it‘s still good, but not a ‘wow‘… for me anyway. It got such amazing reviews in the press that perhaps I expected too much. 1y
Cinfhen Sorry it didn‘t wow you! 1y
BarbaraBB Sorry this wasn‘t as good as we hoped! 1y
72 likes1 stack add5 comments
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squirrelbrain
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Both of my choices for #titlesandtunes #theworldismyoyster are rather ‘obvious‘ this month… nothing clever or witty here!

The book is one that I bought as soon as it came out but haven‘t read yet. As for the song, it came out in 1989 so definitely one of the tunes of my teenage years!

https://open.spotify.com/track/1DapqOfkDAQCiKnvfwKo0g?si=276rv-wYRtyS4lqGAnYbFg&...

Cinfhen Might not be witty but they are BOTH WONDERFUL 🥰🙌🏻♥️ 1y
AlaMich omg I loved Lisa Stansfield so much!! 1y
merelybookish Lisa Stanfield!! Blast from the past! 1y
See All 6 Comments
TheKidUpstairs 👂🪱 1y
batsy Great pick for the song. Can't beat a classic! And the book sounds really good. 1y
Centique Gosh that song brings back great memories! 1y
61 likes6 comments
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Becker
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Pickpick

A very easy and relaxing read. I spent as much time googling the art work as I did reading the book. 🖼️

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RebL
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I‘m about to buy some comfy shoes, quit my job & go to work at the Met. Or at least visit a museum.

KathyWheeler When I was a kid and read From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, I wanted to run away from home and live in the Met. 😄 2y
RebL @KathyWheeler Holy cow! That probably has a lot to do with my reaction 😆 2y
KathyWheeler @RebL Even the cover of this book reminded me of that one even though it‘s not the same. 😄 2y
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Floresj
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Pickpick

At some points, I thought this book was about grief, then it was about art, then about being a guard in the diverse world of the Met, then about culture… Well written, easy to read, poignant. Good spam of essays that connect through the beauty of the Met.

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paisleyjess
Pickpick

This is a great memoir from a 10 year veteran security guard at the Met. It is about art, his personal life and the lives of other guards he befriends along the way. Touching and uplifting, a must read.

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LeslieO
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#independentbookstoreday Limited myself to one since I‘ve done a lot of Indy bookstore purchasing this month. #TBR #minibookhaul

kspenmoll I want to read this! Let me know what you think! 2y
47 likes1 stack add1 comment
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jenniferw88
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squirrelbrain Great choices! ❤️ 2y
Cinfhen I voted for this one too 2y
BarbaraBB I wouldn‘t mind these as the winners! 2y
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Brooke_H
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Mehso-so

Would have done 3.5 starts if GR would allow it.... While the personal aspects of the author's experiences and the minutiae of security guard life at the NYC Met were nicely explored, the discussions of the art itself were sometimes a tad overwritten. Still, I'm visiting the Met this summer for the first time, and I'll be thinking of this book while I'm there.

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Bluebird
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Pickpick

A lovely book! The author quit his job and became a guard at his favorite museum to help work through the grief of his brother‘s death. His love for the museum shows on every page. He is a great storyteller & speaks with joyfulness about his work, his fellow guards, the visitors and, of course, the art. I savored this book & really wished I lived closer to NY so I could wander the galleries!
#52bookclub23 #setinaworkplace
#BookSpin #BookSpinBingo

17 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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Twocougs
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Pickpick

What a joy to read. Not just about the fascinating art, he spent 10 years with but also his life. It made me miss the Met and now I want to go back soon.❤️

goodbyefrancie Ooohhhh! Looking for this now! 2y
MilesnMelodies I miss being able to go to the Met the most from my time living in NYC. So excited for this book. 2y
31 likes2 comments
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kbuggle
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Pickpick

Memoir-esque, written by a guard at the Met, who takes the job after losing his brother, realizing he wanted to be surrounded with beauty, because life is short. Bringley is such a lovely writer!

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Palimpsest
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Pickpick

I absolutely loved this book. Perhaps it was the right moment for it. Perhaps because the Met is the number one place I‘d go in NYC. The author talks about his personal experiences with art and people as a guard at the Met for ten years. It is beautifully written and heartfelt. My favorite book I‘ve read this year. ♥️

squirrelbrain I really want to read this one. Great review! 2y
DrSabrinaMoldenReads Wow! I want to go there too 2y
MilesnMelodies Of all the places I loved when I lived in NYC it turned out it's the Met I miss the most! 2y
38 likes1 stack add3 comments