Henri Matisse, Blue Still Life

Henri Matisse, Blue Still Life, 1907, Oil on canvas. In the collection of the Barnes Foundation.

This picture of the painting is just terrible, but maybe some of the surprising moments in the work are still visible. I can't get over how audaciously the line of fruit on the left of the table lead directly into (or dissolve into) the floral pattern of the wallpaper. Or that single orange on the right side of the table. Or the strange menacing pattern on the tablecloth, or the strange sticks or feathers or strands coming out from the left of the vase, reaching towards that same floral wallpaper. You definitely can't see the strange shades of the shadows on the wall, moving from peach to red to lavender.

Christian Boltanski, No Man’s Land

Christian Boltanski, No Man’s Land, installation. Image courtesy Park Avenue Armory.

A crane delicately picks up items of clothing from an enormous pile, carries them up to the ceiling, and drops them to slowly flutter back down to the pile. The artist talks about the transience of life and the unpredictability of death, but there is also something moving about the plight of the crane, the care of its movements, and the endlessness of its task.