FAQ
Mummy Mask of a Man. Egypt, provenance not known. Roman Period, early first century A.D. Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 72.57
Please check with tour venue for last-minute changes.
- Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana, July 13–September 7, 2008
- John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Florida, October 17, 2008–January 11, 2009
- Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio, February 13–June 7, 2009
- Venue TBD, July 10–September 6, 2009
- Chrysler Museum of Art, Virginia, October 9, 2009–January 3, 2010
- Venue TBD, February 5–May 2, 2010
- Philbrook Museum of Art, Oklahoma, June 6–September 12, 2010
- Venue TBD, October 15, 2010–January 9, 2011
- Norton Museum of Art, Florida, February 12–May 8, 2011
- Venue Pending, June 10–September 4, 2011
- Frist Center for Visual Arts, Tennessee, October 6–January 7, 2012
To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum is a traveling exhibition organized by the Brooklyn Museum that draws on important ancient Egyptian monuments from our collection to illustrate Egyptian strategies for defeating death and living forever. The exhibition includes some of the greatest masterworks of the Egyptian artistic tradition.
Through thousands of years of Egyptian civilization, one of the primary cultural beliefs was that of life after death. The ancient Egyptians regarded death as an enemy who could be defeated through luck and proper preparation. To Live Forever answers the questions at the core of contemporary fascination with ancient Egypt: Why did they create mummies? What rituals did they perform in the tomb? How did they believe they would reach the afterlife? What would they find in the next world?
The exhibition begins with the vividly painted coffin of Teti, an artist in the royal tombs, and tells the story of mummification, the funeral procession and rituals, the contents of the tomb, the final judgment, and the idealized afterlife. Each section of the exhibition contains funeral equipment for the rich, the middle class, and the poor. Among these works of art are the Bird Lady—one of the oldest preserved statues from all Egyptian history, and the iconic signature of Brooklyn’s Egyptian collection—masterpieces of the stone sculptor’s art, and protective gold jewelry. Visitors are able to compare finely painted wood and stone coffins made for the rich with the clay coffins the poor made for themselves. They can contrast exquisite gold jewelry made for the nobles with the faience amulets made from a man-made turquoise substitute. There are also expensive finely worked granite vessels to compare with clay vessels painted to imitate granite.
The scope, artistic quality, and historical significance of the Brooklyn Museum’s extensive collection of Egyptian art allows us to organize this exhibition. Renowned as one of the finest Egyptian collections in the world, the Brooklyn Museum collection was begun in the first decades of the twentieth century through the Museum’s own excavations, as well as the support of collectors who brought major collections to the Museum. The collection of Charles Edwin Wilbour, formed in the nineteenth century (and donated to the Museum between 1916 and 1947), and the endowment given by the Wilbour family in 1931 further strengthened the collections. Since that time, the collection has grown to encompass major holdings in the art of the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom and later periods, forming a premier collection of the art of ancient Egypt. This rich collection is the basis for the exhibition To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum.
Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum