The Brooklyn Museum enters this diary passage not as a described gallery or exhibition venue but through a party held in connection with the institution. The gathering brings Andy Warhol into contact with museum people and Helen Hayes, while his recollection of an earlier disappointment gives the occasion a personal edge.

The Museum Connection

Warhol records going to a party at Amir Abbas Hoveyda’s home that was connected with the Brooklyn Museum and held for Helen Hayes. He and Fred Hughes were, in his account, the only guests of a different kind; everyone else belonged to the museum world. The passage does not describe an event taking place inside the museum, so its presence is institutional and social rather than architectural.

Helen Hayes and an Old Resentment

At the party, Warhol found Hayes beautiful and praised the shades of blue she wore. His changed response carried a history: in the 1950s, she had planned a swimming-pool party at her home in Nyack for the young people associated with Serendipity, then became displeased and canceled it. Warhol says that he used to dislike her because of that episode, but this time he did not.

He also told Hayes that he loved her television movie with Fred Astaire, though he privately records that he had actually hated it. Hayes said that this was the best thing he could have said because she loved the movie. The encounter turns a museum-connected party into a small study in social performance: Warhol’s old grievance gives way, at least for the evening, to a compliment that pleases its recipient.