Amy Mastrine
Google
A mixed bag. Parts of the Carnegie Museum of Art are truly transcendent. The Hall of Architecture is a metaphysical experience — towering replicas of Renaissance masterpieces, true beauty and spiritual order. The Grand Staircase is breathtaking, with a mural of angels.
Unfortunately, the rest of the museum goes in the opposite direction, drowning you in nihilism. There are many modern, woke, joyless, or grotesque pieces. The Heinz Galleries in particular felt like a full-on assault on my spirit - my fiancé and I could barely make it through.
I was particularly infuriated and offended by the removal of a historic Greek statue in the Hall of Sculptures, now swapped for twisted, malformed figure with blackened hands and a curved spine staring at a cell phone. Whoever made the decision to replace the original piece should lose their job - an absolute disgrace to the beauty of the hall, intended as a sanctuary of classical beauty and ideal form, now degraded by the intrusion of a grotesque figure mocking everything the space was meant to honor.
I am torn: half the museum is uplifting and enriching, half of it is demoralizing and draining. Overall, I'm not confident that the leadership at the Carnegie Museum of Art is committed to distinguishing between that which is beautiful and that which panders to modern nihilism. Art should elevate the soul, it should be transcendent and timeless - it should never bend the knee to the ugly, chaotic, soulless, and nihilistic.