So what's wrong with it?
It looks perfect.
- We cleaned it
You cleaned it.
And who does that?
Are they nervous?
He's coming along, don’t you think?
- So is it finished being cleaned? - It's all clean?
I'm not...
I'm a pretty good expert on cleaning, but not on cleaning Rembrandts, so.
Like, I didn't even know it was dirty.
And it's been here since ‘61, right?
- That's right. - Right.
- And it was last cleaned in 1980. - Wow.
Yeah, I've had apartments like that.
- Did you personally actually clean it? - I personally cleaned the picture.
And were you not nervous?
Well, I've been cleaning pictures a long time.
And what if you sneeze?
See, this is what I always feel about surgeons.
Like, and what if you sneeze?
And do you know what year this painting was painted?
1653.
Something older than me, finally.
My story is not from 1653.
Okay, I’m not that old.
No, this is in response to your initial question,
which was talk about your favorite object at The Met.
This was the question that interested me because it was so absurd.
I mean, I don't know how many objects you have,
but I'm guessing they're in the millions.
No one could have one favorite thing at The Met.
So I certainly don't.
So I kept asking other people, do you have one favorite thing at The Met?
Thinking everyone's going to say, “Don't be ridiculous.”
“Who could have one favorite thing at The Met?”
Many people did.
Yes, of course.
I have one favorite thing at the Met.
It's a suit of armor made of little tiny Arabic letters.
And the entire suit of armor is the entire Qur’an.
Someone else had a favorite thing.
Picasso's portrait of Gertrude Stein.
And I think like, why?
I mean, I love this painting, but I couldn't.
I couldn't pick my favorite Picasso.
I couldn't pick my favorite Picasso out of six, probably.
Favorites are for children.
That's what I think.
Like lot of times, people ask me, What's your favorite book?
Like, I don’t have a favorite book?
How could I have one favorite book?
What's your favorite movie? I don’t have one favorite movie.
So I thought I don't have a favorite object at The Met, but...
I have, maybe, a favorite story about The Met.
When I was a child, it was 1961,
I lived in New Jersey.
My parents got the New York Times on Sunday, and I couldn't
wait for it to come because I already wanted to live in New York.
And the New York Times started writing about this painting.
Well, it was a big deal, wasn't it, when they bought it?
I read the newspaper accounts.
I begged my parents to take me.
My father worked every day.
So on a Saturday my mother took me.
And I remember that it was cold.
We stood in line outside.
It's the first time I ever saw a line in front of a museum.
And we stood in line for really seemed like forever.
Really forever.
And in front of me, in the line were two teenage girls.
I was very mesmerized by teenagers.
Like they seemed very glamorous to me.
And so I was paying attention to them.
And finally, we come in to the museum.
The painting was in the lobby.
As I got close to it, I saw something that really upset me.
It was covered in glass.
Probably they were trying to protect it from these hordes of teenagers.
But I was really upset because I wanted to really look at it.
One of the teenage girls in front of me realized
that she could see her reflection,
took out her comb and teased her hair.
Looking, using it as a mirror.
I think that up to that point in my life, it was most shocking moment in my life.
I was complete...
So shocking. I remember this.
This is 60 years ago.
You usually cannot get that close as something like this, but...
I'm not exhaling.
What kind of person?
Even a teenager, stands in line?
It's like.
It's not that I'm surprised teenage girl would act that way.
This would make a good Christmas card.
Like right now,
I can't believe I'm sitting in a room with this painting with my back to it.
It's very angering to me because I'm never going to be
sitting in a room with this painting again like this.
And I know that.
But when you show it again, will have glass on it?
No, no, no. We're not putting glass.
It was so disappointing
to see it with the glass on it.
- Thank you. - Yes.
If I had a Rembrandt, there'd be no glass on it.
There also would be no line
because no one would be looking except me.