Keeping the Lights on at the Met Museum Is an Art in Itself

There’s a job opening at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And it’ll give you the opportunity to skulk around the museum’s treasures when the public isn’t there.

The catch: It requires you to not be afraid of heights. To embrace them, even.

The opening is for a head lamper. That’s right. The people who change the lights at the Met have a special name. Because at the Met, there’s the art — and then there’s the art that goes into displaying the art, and those are the lights.

The lights are an essential part of the Met experience, though many who walk through the museum’s exhibits, ranging from the artifacts of ancient civilizations to more contemporary art, don’t always notice them. There’s a small team of lighting designers who are tasked with accentuating the art, while also protecting it from the effects of both natural and artificial light: This means using special bulbs as well as casings, both around individual art pieces and the bulbs themselves.

The lighting designers and lampers have to strike the right balance between using light to highlight the art and protecting the pieces from too much exposure.Credit…Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times