Author Patrick Bringley, "All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me"

Here's a memorable author talk you won't want to miss!  Darien Library and Barrett Bookstore welcome Patrick Bringley in discussion of his book, All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me.

Bringley started working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2008--after giving up a prestigious job at the New Yorker where he was "going places." It was also a time of grief for the author--after losing his 27-year-old brother, Tom, to cancer. He chose the Met job as a temporary refuge to give him room to grieve. He would work there as a guard for 10 years. During that time, Bringley took notes and found solace in the art that surrounded him on a daily basis.

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 guards—a 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.

Come learn about the Met, its art and Patrick's unique take on his decade of service there. 

About the Author

Patrick Bringley worked for a decade as a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His memoir, All the Beauty in the World, has been lauded in the New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, NPR, Sunday Times (London), and elsewhere. He has been interviewed by the New Yorker, NPR Weekend Edition, CBS News, ABC News, NY1, the BBC, the Guardian, Vox, and many other outlets. Previously, Bringley worked in the editorial events office at the New Yorker magazine.

He lives in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, with his wife and two children.