Spotlight Series

We invite you to learn more about the Museum's collection through the Spotlight Series. In this series of essays, a range of authors—curators, educators, faculty members, and graduate students—provide analysis and stimulating points of discussion on selected works from the permanent collection. Artworks are listed alphabetically by the last name of the artist below.
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

 

Franz Ackermann
Condominium, 1994–2002

Jodi Kovach
May 2007

 

 

 

Josef Albers
Homage to the Square: Aurora, 1951–55

Michael Murawski
April 2007; updated 2016

 

 

B

 

John Baldessari
Two Compositions (Formal/Informal; Interior/Exterior), 1990

Catharina Manchanda
September 2007; updated 2016

 

 

 

 

 

Thomas Ball
Freedom's Memorial, 1875

Katherine B. Harnish
April 2015

 

 

 

 

Yto Barrada
Landslip, Cromlech de Mzora, 2001
Tunnel—Disused Survey Site for a Morocco–Spain Connection, 2002

Ila Sheren
April 2014; updated 2016

 

 

 

 

Romare Bearden
Black Venus, 1968

Meredith Malone
February 2007; updated 2016

 

 

 

Max Beckmann
Les artistes mit Gemüse (Artists with Vegetable), 1943

Sabine Eckmann
July 2007; updated 2016

 

 

 

 

Max Beckmann
Day and Dream, 1946

Sydney Norton
April 2010

 

 

 

 

George Wesley Bellows
Portrait of Geraldine Lee, No. 1, 1914

Michael Murawski
May 2008

 

 

 

 

Eugene Berman
The Good Samaritan (Le bon Samaritain), 1930

Keith Holz
March 2013; revised 2016

 

 

 

 

 

Christian Boltanski
Padre Mariano, 1994

Rebecca DeRoo
January 2009

 

 

 

 

Cosima von Bonin
Rockstars (Character Appropriation), 2003

Jodi Kovach
March 2007

 

 

 

 

Georges Braque
Nature morte et verre (Still Life with Glass), 1930

Karen K. Butler
March 2009; revised 2016

 

 

 

Alberto Burri
Gran Ferro M1, 1958
Gran Ferro M3, 1959

Karen K. Butler
September 2010

 

 

C

 

Alexander Calder
Five Rudders, 1964

Meredith Malone
August 2008; updated 2016

 

 

 

 

 

Frederic Edwin Church
Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, 1883

Matthew Bailey
May 2011; updated 2016

 

 

Thomas Cole
Aqueduct near Rome, 1832

William L. Coleman
February 2016

 

 

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
Le chemin des vieux, Luzancy, Seine-et-Marne (The Path of the Old People), 1871–72

Noelle Paulson Bradley
November 2007; revised 2016

D

 

Honoré Daumier
Europe, 1867

Maxime Valsamas
March 2016

 

 

 

 

Willem de Kooning
Saturday Night, 1956

John J. Curley
April 2008; updated 2008

 

 

 

 

Narcisse Virgile Diaz de la Peña
Wood Interior, 1867

Rachel Keith
July 2008; updated 2016

 

 

 

 

 

Jean Dubuffet
Tête barbue (Bearded Head), 1959
Poches aux yeux (Bags under the Eyes), 1959

Karen K. Butler
December 2009; updated 2016

 

 

 

 

Albrecht Dürer
Melencolia I, 1514

Ryan Gregg
September 2011; updated 2016

 

 

 

E

 

Thomas Eakins
Portrait of Professor W. D. Marks, 1886

Emilie Boone
October 2007

 

 

 

 

Nicole Eisenman
Tea Party, 2012

Kelly Shindler
November 2015; updated 2016

 

 

 

 

 

Olafur Eliasson
Your Imploded View, 2001

Meredith Malone
December 2007; updated 2016

 

 

 

Max Ernst
L'oeil du silence (The Eye of Silence), 1943–44

Sabine Eckmann
March 2008; updated 2016

 

F

 

Andrea Fraser
Little Frank and His Carp, 2001

Meredith Malone
June 2007; updated 2016

 

G

 

Paul Gauguin
Te Atua (The Gods), 1899

Elizabeth C. Childs
September 2016

 

 

 

 

Isa Genzken
Bill II, 2001
Little Crazy Column, 2002

Svea Bräunert
September 2016

 

 

 

Sanford Robinson Gifford
Early October in the White Mountains, 1860
Rheinstein, 1872–74
Venetian Sails: A Study, 1873

Jennifer Padgett
December 2013; updated 2016

 

 

Hendrick Goltzius
The Great Hercules, 1589

Marisa Bass
October 2013; updated 2016

 

 

 

 

Philip Guston
If This Be Not I, 1945

Lynette Roth
October 2010; updated 2016

 

H

 

Marsden Hartley
The Iron Cross, 1915

Michael Murawski
August 2007; updated 2016

 

 

 

 

Hermonax
Nolan Amphora, 475–465 B.C.

Grizelda McClelland
September 2008

 

 

 

 

Daniel Hopfer
The Peasant Feast, c. 1533–36

Elizabeth Wyckoff
December 2012; revised 2016

 

 

Harriet Hosmer
Oenone, 1854–55

Erin Sutherland Minter
June 2008; updated 2016

 

 

J

 

Howard Jones
Solo Two, 1966

Meredith Malone
August 2009; updated 2016

 

 

 

 

 

Joseph Jones
Landscape, 1932

Bryna Campbell
February 2008; updated 2016

 

 

K

 

Paul Klee
Zeichensammlung Südlich (Collection of Southern Signs), 1924

Sarah McGavran
April 2012

 

 

Barbara Kruger
Untitled, 1989–90

Bradley Bailey
November 2010; updated 2016

 

 

L

 

Fernand Léger
Les belles cyclistes (The Women Cyclists), 1944

Meredith Malone
July 2011; updated 2016

 

 

 

Franz Seraph von Lenbach
Portrait of Prince Otto von Bismarck, 1884–90

James van Dyke
March 2014; revised 2016

 

 

 

 

Lucebert
The Menaced House, 1962

Meredith Malone
January 2007

 

M

 

Fumihiko Maki
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum building, 2006

Eric Mumford
November 2011; updated 2016

 

 

 

Henri Matisse
Nature morte aux oranges (II) [Still Life with Oranges (II)], c. 1899

John Klein
April 2011; updated 2016

 

 

 

Allan McCollum
Pam Beale, 1971

Meredith Malone
August 2010; updated 2016

 

 

 

 

 

Ludwig Meidner
Selbstbildnis (Self-Portrait), 1971

Anne Popiel
January 2008; updated 2016

 

 

 

 

Robert Motherwell
Interior with Pink Nude, 1951

Karen K. Butler
January 2010; updated 2016

 

P

 

Jackson Pollock
Sleeping Effort, 1953

Angela Miller
March 2012; updated 2016

 

R

 

Odilon Redon
Une femme revêtue du soleil (A Woman Clothed in Sunshine), 1889

Orin Zahra
December 2015; revised 2016

 

 

 

 

Rembrandt van Rijn
The Three Crosses, 1660–61

Paul Crenshaw
October 2008; updated 2016

 

 

S

 

Allan Sekula
Volunteer’s Soup (Isla de Ons, 12/19/02), 2002–03

Svea Bräunert
September 2016

 

 

 

 

Lorna Simpson
Counting, 1991

Elissa Weichbrodt
February 2009

 

 

 

 

 

Pierre Soulages
Peinture 200 x 265 cm, 20 mai 1959 (Painting 200 x 265 cm, 20 May 1959), 1959

Karen K. Butler
May 2009; updated 2016

 

 

 

Raphael Soyer
Girl Standing Semi-nude, c. 1940

Bryna R. Campbell
December 2008

 

 

 

 

Selections from the Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae, 16th century

Erin Sutherland
March 2020

 

 

 

Joseph Stella
Man in Elevated (Train), 1916

Michael Murawski
November 2008; updated 2016

 

 

T

 

Wolfgang Tillmans
Portrait series, 2001

Anna Warbelow
September 2009

 

 

U

 

Unknown (Native North American, Mississippian, Dunklin County, Missouri, Woodlands, United States)
Wulfing Repoussé Plaques, c. 1200–1400

Matthew H. Robb
March 2010; revised 2016

 

 

W

 

Carrie Mae Weems
Untitled (Colored People Grid), 2009–10

Allison Unruh
September 2016