One day in the summer of 2023, Armia Khalil, a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, noticed a visitor wandering through a gallery, clearly looking for something specific.
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“Do you need help, sir?” Mr. Khalil recalls asking. “May I help you?”
It seemed like the most ordinary interaction in the world.
The man was trying to find “Flight Into Egypt,” a century-old oil painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner depicting a biblical scene, the Holy Family’s escape from King Herod’s assassins, in deep shades of blue.
“Of course, I knew it,” said Mr. Khalil. It was part of his job. But he also had a personal interest in it. He had been born and raised in Egypt and was enamored with Egyptian art and art about Egypt. “At this point, after 10 years at the Met, almost everything about Egypt, I would know. Almost!”
Mr. Khalil walked the visitor over to the painting, and they got to chatting about Egypt.
