Diana, landscapes and Madame X

Diana was designed to stand above New York. Down here, you can see how the long bow and outstretched limbs form a clear outline. Then we’ll head upstairs to paintings that people once crowded to see. Thomas Cole places a tiny self-portrait in The Oxbow. Frederic Edwin Church fills Heart of the Andes with details that exhibition visitors searched through opera glasses. Emanuel Leutze gives Washington the commanding position in a crowded boat. John Singer Sargent’s Madame X ends the visit with a portrait he changed after its first public showing. The five stops take about an hour and a half to two hours, including walking and pauses. Start with Diana in Gallery 700 on Floor 1. The paintings are on Floor 2.