I recently took an early morning trip to the reopened Museum of Modern Art and its 47,000 foot expansion. There is so much more to see, but still only a fraction of their 82,000 piece collection. They moved the classics and mixed with until-now archived material. The art was crisp and gorgeous and glowed in a new way when put next to familiar art we’ve paid homage to before. Plus there was more art by women, African-Americans, and Asians. There was a whole room devoted to the Ninth Street women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell and Helen Frankenthaler. These are big, color-splashed 8’x 10’ paintings. The rooms are sometimes period based, and other times look entirely new, set next to pieces you haven’t seen before. I saw a set of paintings from the 1920s, juxtaposed with videos of a wedding, and sculpture. I took a few pictures of my favorites found in one morning. The museum exudes luxury and you’re visiting the building as much as the art. After looking art for a couple hours, you turn a corner and get a window view of buildings outside—your eyeballs then perceive everything as beauty. You’ve been mesmerized.
If you get a chance, read the New Yorker’s Peter Schjeldahl’s view of the museum opening (10/21/19 p84-86). His writing reminds me that we’re all looking at art together and art makes us. I will miss him terribly. He has lung cancer and wrote about his life recently “77 Sunset Me.”
