Seeing Art for the First Time

An immense quantity of art in this world is worth seeing, yet most of us will only ever experience a fraction of it.

We tend to recognize a select few works associated with certain famous artists simply because those specific images are reproduced and shown over and over again. Meanwhile, there are so many incredibly talented artists who deserve praise, yet their work never receives the widespread attention it truly warrants.

This realization struck me deeply in November 2024 during a visit to Palazzo Zabarella in Padova, Italy. I was there to see the exhibition Matisse, Picasso, Modigliani, Miró: Masterpieces of Drawing from the Musée de Grenoble. I had never before seen any of the works on paper featured in this beautiful collection on loan from the French museum.

Through these delicate works, I was introduced to two remarkable women artists who instantly captured my attention, while also enriching my understanding of other, more familiar masters.

Portrait of Olga By Pablo Picasso (1921): This fascinating collage, consisting of two drawings glued onto a canvas, beautifully showcases Picasso’s interest in representing the human figure in a classical manner—yet one can already detect the stirrings of the Cubism that would follow. Everything in this work is rendered in sculpted, monumental proportions, highlighting his remarkable ability to blend classical weight with avant-garde form.

Invention by Fernand Léger (1918): Léger’s interest in machines and mechanical forms began in 1918. As he famously reflected, “In the search for vividness and intensity I have made use of the machine as others have of the nude body or the still life.”

Head with Thumbtacks by Jean Cocteau (1926): Jean Cocteau used common, everyday objects to create a striking self-portrait, bringing the piece to life using only paper, thumbtacks, string, and a subtle touch of red.

Plaster Cast Hands and Feet Attacking Men by the Sea By Jean Cocteau (1926): The influence of Surrealism and the subconscious are deeply evident in this chaotic, disturbing, and comical piece.

Marc Chagall The Church 1926

The Church by Marc Chagall (1926): Although Chagall came into contact with exponents of Fauvism and Cubism while residing in Montparnasse, he maintained his own highly individual style—a fairy-tale aesthetic heavily influenced by his native land and the world of the shtetl.

Character with White Rectangle by Joan Miró (1928):  I see this piece more as a representation of an animal than a figure, and the white rectangle feels to me like the beginning of a message that was never quite finished.

Plate of fruit by María Blanchard (1925): María Blanchard’s growth was stunted, and she walked with a limp. At school, she was made fun of and cruelly called "the witch," but her parents encouraged her to develop her deep interest in art. In her time, she was critically acclaimed for developing her own unique, highly expressive form of Cubism. In this outstanding composition on paper, the fruits melt into an almost unrecognizable mass, yet the light gently falls upon them, casting the shadows aside.

Portrait of Man by Amedeo Modigliani (c. 1915): As the exhibition card next to this drawing beautifully states: “His style is a result of a complex synthesis of different elements, from Etruscan graves to Tuscan Renaissance portraits, to the statuary of the Cyclades to African masks.”

Pietà by Marie Vassilieff (1926): Of Russian origin, Marie Vassilieff seamlessly integrates the art of Byzantine icons with popular engravings. The composition of this Pietà departs from the traditional representation of the dead Jesus resting on the lap of the Madonna. While those classic compositions certainly convey pain, they often maintain a physical distance between the two figures; in Vassilieff's work, which places the Madonna and Jesus on the exact same level, the grief is overwhelming. The utter simplicity of the figures highlights how the loss of a loved one is universal. In those dark moments, the sun ceases to shine—as symbolized by the stark black circle on the left of the composition—and even the presence of a rose does nothing to alleviate the sorrow.