This photograph displays a setting of what was once a regular trip to the MET. Unfortunately, this isn’t our usual anymore. A first glance shows how our mindsets and day to day “normal” has changed. I posted this photograph to the class Instagram account with the hashtag #humansofNewYork. At the time I would have told you that I was fulfilling the role of the typical flâneur in nineteenth-century Paris, even if I was in twenty-first century New York. I was watching the people look at the art and I was dumbfounded to see the pure affection each person had for these paintings. Coronavirus has changed my perspective entirely. When I look at this picture now, I see what is absent, rather than what is present. I don’t see gloves or masks on the people in this photo, I don’t see a safe social distance between each person, and I see an elderly woman in the midst of everyone when she should be at home safe. These are all concerns that never entered my mind a month ago. As a result of this pandemic, I can’t help but stare at this picture and see how life used to be and the small things that we never appreciated, like a simple visit to a museum.

The angle at which the photograph was taken really invites the viewer to feel as if they are in the room, just as the entertainment experience of the panorama did in nineteenth-century Paris. The viewer can see the floor up to the ceiling and the many people walking by allows one to scan the whole collective image, rather than focus on any specific part. This way of looking helps steer us towards the “bigger picture”: the feeling of being in the room alongside all these people. This simulated feeling of physically being present in that room can especially help us now, when we can’t leave our homes or travel at all. This sense of being there can help normalize our situation and give us all something to look forward to when Covid-19 leaves.