The Gallery of the Absurd

1 Hopper’s Nighthawks
Hopper’s patrons reveal true identities without disturbing isolation ambience

2 da Vinci  and Duchamp
Leonardo confronts Duchamp over his defacement of the Mona Lisa

3 The Scream  After Edvard Munch
A trivial transgression triggers an existential crisis

4 Velasquez Las Meninas
An altered perspective radiates from the margins, reshaping the group

5 After Jackson Pollock
A museum guide accidentally attributes a masterpiece to a well-known actor

6 Pope Julius, Michelangelo and the Sistine Ceiling
The cost of monumental commission causes its patron great anxiety

7 Rembrandt’s Neighborhood Watch
The famous militia company embraces its responsibilities for grammar purity

8 This Is Not a Bridge After René Magritte and Claude Monet
Philosophical proposition applied to one of Impressionism’s most iconic images

9 Pollock After Jackson Pollock and Norman Rockwell
Two competing visions of Americana confront one another across a gallery wall

10 Museum of Global Warming
Art narrowly and temporarily survives the climate crisis

11 Warhol Marilyn and Andy
A screen icon questions the necessity of endless repetition.

12 The Kiss After Gustav Klimt
A celebrated image of romantic love is revealed as a carefully fabricated pose

13 Invisible Man After Ralph Ellison
Literary classic translated into visual form through conspicuous avoidance

14 Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon
A chance social encounter reimagines the origins of Cubism.

15 Nude Descending a Staircase After Marcel Duchamp
A celebrated modernist image asserts her independence from her creator.

16 Cézanne After Paul Cézanne
A collector’s decorative concerns eclipse artistic ones

17 Duchamp and Picasso
Two revolutionary modernist artists debate the nature and purpose of art

18 American Gothic After Grant Wood
Two reluctant farmers help Grant Wood create an American myth

19 Van Gogh Leaves the Mine
Miner’s departure for painting is viewed with disbelief by those he leaves behind

20 Room in New York After Edward Hopper
An urban couple searches for meaning amidst the routines of modern life

21 Picasso the House Painter After Pablo Picasso
Imagining modernism’s greatest innovator pursuing a more practical career

22 Frida and the European Gaze After Frida Kahlo
Artist rejects assigned role and asserts her own place in modernism

23 Wyeth’s Christina’s World
A distant farmhouse turns Cristina’s longing into a practical complaint

24 da Vinci’s The Last Supper
Among the Apostles, consensus proves elusive when the check arrives

25 Rousseau’s Sleeping Gypsy
A famous encounter in the desert turns on a predator’s defective eyesight

26 Woman in Blue After Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
A celebrated portrait sitter elevates her beauty above the artwork

27 Vermeer After Girl with a Pearl Earring
A domestic interruption explains Vermeer’s famous adornment

28 Woman with a Shovel After Willem de Kooning
Two sophisticates anticipate naive viewer’s reaction to masterpiece

29 Morning Sun After Edward Hopper
Solitary figure revisits earlier Hopper vision of urban isolation

30 After Caravaggio and Picasso
Radically different visions of representation collide across centuries

31 Mona Lisa and Leonardo After Leonardo da Vinci
Enduring masterpiece invites comparison with the artist’s earlier work 

32   Woman After Willem de Kooning
An iconic figure objects to the artist’s misogynistic portrayal

33 Pigeons Hit the Whitney and the Met
Urban birds prepare to leave their mark on the city’s great museums

34 Jackson Pollock
A celebrated masterpiece is mistaken for exactly what it resembles

35 After Watteau’s Pierrot
A familiar modern condition appears centuries before Sartre names it

36 Botero After Fernando Botero
An artist defends artistic vision that defines his work

37 The Potato Eaters
A simple meal reveals the humanity behind a masterpiece

38 Warhol: Not for the Pantry
An artist finds his masterpiece on a supermarket shelf

39 Whistler’s Mother
Famous sitter approaches artist son with modern sense of negotiation

40 Dollar Art
A familiar symbol eclipses the masterpieces around it

41 Madame X
A celebrated sitter reclaims the scandal usually attributed to her dress

42 After Robert Rauschenberg and Willem de Kooning
An act of artistic destruction later leads to an unexpected revelation

43 Isabella Stewart Gardner
A trapped portrait sitter helplessly witnesses a famous theft

44 After de Kooning
Art sophisticates mock a naïve viewer

45 Rodin Thinker
A famous sculpture wonders if it deserves better.

46 After Pollock and Pigeons
Originality of celebrated innovation encounters unexpected challenge

47 Rodin Burghers of Calais
A monument to sacrifice joins the queue

48 Modern Period
A cave painter discovers where art lost its way.

49 Rafael’s Apollo
A cave painter traces the decline of cave art to a single moment

50 After Picasso and Gertrude Stein
A relationship that raises questions about who shaped whom

51 After Dali
Artist’s self- fascination overwhelms his most famous creation

52 After Van Gogh
Artistic inspiration springs from an unexpectedly mundane event

53 Two Mammoths
Questions of artistic value prove older than civilization itself

54 David Marat
Contest between ideas and force reaches an unexpected conclusion.

55 Warhol Sleep
Avant-garde masterpiece more engaging to creator than to viewers

56  Robert Motherwell  Elegy to the Spanish Republic
A masterpiece emerges from historical tragedy.