logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2023
8m 15s

'All the Beauty in the World' is a museu...

NPR
About this episode
Patrick Bringley worked in events planning at The New Yorker – until his older brother got diagnosed with cancer and passed away. That loss led to a reimagining of priorities for Bringley, who decided to seek solace in one of the most beautiful places he could think of: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. His new memoir, All the Beauty in the World, retraces his journey to becoming a museum guard and finding refuge in the works of art he saw each day. And as he tells NPR's Scott Simon, he also encountered a lot of joy in watching the people who visited.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy
Up next
Yesterday
Introducing: Books We've Loved
Welcome to Books We've Loved, a new limited series from Book of The Day. Every episode, we will dig into some of our favorite books, to make the case for picking up a book from the past. Hosted by Book of the Day’s Andrew Limbong and Code Switch’s B.A. Parker, they will be your g ... Show More
2m 10s
Yesterday
Introducing: Books We've Loved
Welcome to Books We've Loved, a new limited series from Book of The Day. Every episode, we will dig into some of our favorite books, to make the case for picking up a book from the past. Hosted by Book of the Day’s Andrew Limbong and Code Switch’s B.A. Parker, they will be your g ... Show More
2m 10s
Oct 10
These new mystery novels are 'whodunits' that might as well be called 'whydunits'
Today’s episode features two mystery novels with special twists. First, The Killer Question is a story told via emails, WhatsApp messages and texts. When a new trivia team becomes suspiciously successful, egos are hurt and a body is found in the river. In today’s episode, author ... Show More
17m 34s
Recommended Episodes
Aug 2023
He spent 10 years in a museum. This is what he learned
This week, we go to one of the world’s largest museums, so a former guard can teach us new ways to appreciate art. Patrick Bringley was a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a decade. He recently wrote a memoir about his time there titled All the Beauty in the World. He t ... Show More
22m 17s
Sep 2023
Artist Carol Bove on Curating Legendary Polymath Harry Smith
Harry Everett Smith is an odd figure to come across in an art museum. That's because he's not known primarily as a visual artist at all. For most, Harry Smith is probably best known as the compiler of the legendary Anthology of American Folk Music, a landmark collection of early ... Show More
45m 29s
Mar 2024
A Reporter Goes Undercover in the Art World
The contemporary art world is nothing if not confusing. It is simultaneously deeply frivolous, and takes itself way too seriously. Its business dealings combine total mystification with conspicuous consumption, and the exact mechanisms by which one type of art gets celebrated abo ... Show More
48m 28s
Mar 2015
A Listing of the Holdings of the National Museum of Romance
In December of 2003, the National Museum of Romance in Tristia, New Jersey, closed its doors due to lack of funding. On December 14, the public came to bid on the artifacts in the museum's permanent collection, fascinated by the stories of passion, yearning, and heartache behind ... Show More
1h 30m
Jun 2020
Christopher Knight: The Critic Whose Love for LA Uplifted Its Arts Community
In his current position as art critic at the Los Angeles Times, Christopher Knight has been speaking truth to power for almost four decades. He charted the contemporary art waters in a city that has since become one of the world’s art hubs before most people ever noticed. He does ... Show More
40m 46s
Dec 2020
From Graffiti to the Gallery, Futura Talks About Art
Born Leonard McGure, Futura made his reputation spray painting subway trains in New York City in the 1970s as “Futura 2000” — the number was dropped in 1999. He would go on to be part of the booming graffiti and street art movement in the 1980s, but was forced to depend on Europe ... Show More
1h 4m
Nov 2023
Curator Helen Molesworth Looks Back on 30 Years of Art Writing
In 2018, Helen Molesworth was unceremoniously dismissed from her position as chief curator of the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles. The move proved controversial among industry insiders, many of whom cast it as an example of an institution punishing its employee, a straight ... Show More
37m 54s
Dec 2023
2023: the biggest stories and the best shows
It’s the final episode of 2023 and so, as always, it’s our review of the year. Host Ben Luke is joined by Louisa Buck, The Art Newspaper’s contemporary art correspondent, based in London, and Ben Sutton, editor, Americas, based in New York, to discuss the big art and heritage new ... Show More
1h 7m
Oct 2021
Frieze: Museums in the 21st century
The National Gallery in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut were among the many arts institutions forced to close during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. How has this experience changed the running o ... Show More
45m 15s
Dec 2023
Art Basel in Miami Beach, the all-women museum in Athens, Pesellino’s David panels
This week: the final big art market event of the year, Art Basel in Miami Beach. The Art Newspaper’s associate digital editor, Alexander Morrison, talks to our acting art market editor, Tim Schneider, in Miami about the fair, as tensions rise ahead of the pivotal 2024 US election ... Show More
56m 14s