Art critic Alastair Sooke, in the company of some of the leading creatives of our age, continues his deep dive into the stunning works in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, whilst exploring what it really means “to see” art.  Today's edition features a work by a Latvian-American visual artist best known for photo-realistic paintings and drawings of natural environments and phenomena such as the ocean, spider webs, star fields, and rocks. Award-winning novelist Madeleine Thien has chosen "Bikini" Celmins's depiction of an atomic blast which took place in Bikini Lagoon on 25 July 1946, part of the United States’ Operation Crossroads – one of a series of twenty-three nuclear detonations in the western Pacific. What has drawn the novelist's eye to this work - and how does she see it? Producer: Paul Kobrak Main Image:
Vija Celmins, Bikini, 1968. Graphite on acrylic ground on paper, 13 3/8 x 18 1/4" (34 x 46.4 cm). Gift of Edward R. Broida. Museum of Modern Art, NY, 673.2005. © 2019 Vija Celmins

Madeleine Thien on Vija Celmins’s Bikini

Leading creative thinkers choose an artwork from the Museum of Modern Art, and talk about how it inspires or provokes, thrills or surprises them. Presented by Alastair Sooke.

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Over the last 29 editions art critic Alastair Sooke, in the company of some of the leading creatives of our age, has dived into the stunning works in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, whilst exploring what it really means “to see” art.  In this final edition, Alastair makes his own selection. And, as with several of his guests in the series, he goes for two choices. The first, a painting that bowled him over as a young visitor to MoMA, Matisse’s Red Studio, but what will the second be, and has making this series changed the way he sees art? Producer: Tom Alban Main Image:
Henri Matisse, The Red Studio, 1911. Oil on canvas, 71 1/4" x 7' 2 1/4" (181 x 219.1 cm). Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund. Museum of Modern Art, NY, 8.1949.© Succession H. Matisse/ DACS 2019

Alastair Sooke

Art critic Alastair Sooke, in the company of some of the leading creatives of our age, continues his deep dive into the stunning works in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, whilst exploring what it really means “to see” art.  Today's edition features playwright, librettist and screenwriter, David Henry Hwang. He chooses a painting by the artist Martin Wong - Stanton near Forsyth Street (1983). Producer: Tom Alban Main Image:
Credit: Martin Wong, Stanton near Forsyth Street, 1983. Acrylic on canvas, 48 x 64" (121.9 x 162.6 cm). Courtesy of the Estate of Martin Wong and P.P.O.W Gallery, New York, NY. Museum of Modern Art, NY, 863.2011

David Henry Hwang on Martin Wong's Stanton near Forsyth Street

Art critic Alastair Sooke, in the company of some of the leading creatives of our age, continues his deep dive into the stunning works in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, whilst exploring what it really means “to see” art.  Today's edition features Swiss designer Yves Behar, whose choice is a powerful one - literally.  He chooses the internationally recognised power symbol, the circle broken with a vertical line.  Is it really art?  That is how he sees it. Producer: Paul Kobrak Main Image:
International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)’s Power Symbol (2011)

Yves Behar and the IEC's Power Symbol

Art critic Alastair Sooke, in the company of some of the leading creatives of our age, continues his deep dive into the stunning works in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, whilst exploring what it really means “to see” art.  Today's edition is the choice of award-winning chef, Ruth Rogers: The Dream, by Henri Rousseau. Producer: Tom Alban Main Image:
Henri Rousseau, The Dream, 1910. Oil on canvas, 6' 8 1/2" x 9' 9 1/2" (204.5 x 298.5 cm). Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller. Museum of Modern Art, NY, 252.1954

Lady Ruth Rogers on Henri Rousseau's The Dream

Art critic Alastair Sooke, in the company of some of the leading creatives of our age, takes us on a deep dive into the stunning works in the Museum of Modern Art's collection, whilst exploring what it really means “to see” art.  Leading cultural figures in the series include Grammy- and Emmy-award-winning Hollywood actor and comedian Steve Martin, one of the founders of minimalism – composer Steve Reich and stand-up comedian Margaret Cho. Each episode introduces us to an important art work in the collection, but asks how our own perspective affects our appreciation of the piece.  In this edition, American actor Stanley Tucci chooses Alberto Giacometti's "Head of a Man on a Rod" from 1947. Producer: Tom Alban Main Image:
Alberto Giacometti, Head of a Man on a Rod, 1947. Bronze, 23 1/2" (59.7 cm) high, including bronze base 6 3/8 x 5 7/8 x 6" (16.0 x 14.9 x 15.1 cm). Gift of Mrs. George Acheson. Museum of Modern Art, NY, 595.1976. © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Madeleine Thien on Vija Celmins’s Bikini

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