When I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I saw many interesting works of art. I was so amazed by all the artwork. It was a difficult decision to choose a work to focus on for my art paper, but there was one sculpture that caught my eye; it was Nataraja of Shiva (11th century) of ancient southeastern art located on the 2nd floor of the museum. The main message of this sculpture centers on the idea of ​​the boundaries of the cosmos and the destruction and rebirth of the world. This article will use an in-depth visual analysis of this sculpture and describe how the visual elements of the work relate to its main theme. In my opinion, this sculpture is very beautiful and I was so surprised to find it in the museum. When I grew up in India, I always saw this sculpture in temples, stores and other people's homes and even in my own home. When I was little, I would always look at him and wonder “why does Shiva have four arms?” Why is he standing like this? » Nataraja is a Sanskrit word, which is an oldest language of India. “Nata” means dance and “Raja” means king; king of dancing. This sculpture dates from the Chola dynasty, around the 11th century. The artist of this work is unknown. The height of the sculpture is 28 7/8 inches and its diameter is 22 1/4 inches. I expected the sculpture to be smaller than it was because I had never seen a sculpture as large as this before. So it was shocking to find him at such a height. At that time (Chola dynasty, circa 860-1279), art and religion were very closely linked in India and all sculptures or art objects contain spiritual ideas and a religious message. In this case, the main message concerns the limits of the cosmos; demolition and reincarnation of the world. Shiva is a m...... middle of paper......". My experience at the Met was wonderful and I love looking at the artwork and would love to go back to see the whole museum. Works CitedSacred book of Hinduism which explains the religion of Hinduism and contains images of deities and explains each of them fully.Coomaraswamy, Ananda Kentish. April 2011. .Stokstad, Marilyn, Michael Cothren and Frederick M. Asher History of the Arts. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall/Pearson, 2011. Print “Shiva as Lord of Dance (Nataraja) [Tamil. Nadu, India] (1987.80.1) | Heilbrunn Art History Timeline | The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Metmuseum.org.. 2011. .