This is crazy.
This is ridiculous.
It's getting me up for my mid-afternoon drowsiness.
For some reason I thought it was going to be like really easy.
I guess there’s no reason it needs to be in.
Can we do it?
It fits, I think.
No it's not this one!
Oh, oh, oh.
We're good, we're good.
Yeah, we're just doing the stairs, this is not good.
But is it going to fit in the stairs?
We're going to see, I don't know.
It was a great attempt
Plan B.
Sorry.
It's okay.
It's the same process.
Lift high.
Do you want me to go under?
Yeah, but hold on you have to rest it.
Okay.
Got it?
Yeah.
You want to put it… there.
What do you guys think of this idea of kind of starting over here on the left with the
book-like situation in the vitrine and then this idea that the pages are kind of floating
out and around
What's happening there?
Those are the four pieces that are gonna be on that wall?
Mm-hmm.
For the, I mean, that's what we were thinking.
Yeah.
What do they call that?
The microbe?
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, I think it's great.
I think it's gonna look beautiful.
I just...I mean, I would...I like this better than just not having any prints on top.
Like if it were to be isolated but having the prints on top and having that, the whole
thing works together.
So we're on the second floor, a former print galleries.
The show is called, "Max Ernst: Beyond Painting."
It's all works from MoMA's collection but across all the departments and mediums.
So, "Beyond Painting," is a phrase of Ernst's referring to the way that he worked.
One of the reasons we have such amazing holdings of Max Ernst's work is because we began to
collect him very early on.
The earliest works in this show were acquired for the museum in 1935, and we've sort of
kept going ever since then.
And that is why we're able to tell this story of this incredibly inventive artist in such
a synoptic way, just by going to our storage vaults.
I don't have those even.
Yeah, move that that way.
Yeah, a little bit to that way...to the left.
The center one?
Yeah, center one to the left.
I don't know if they'll have that much space in the mat but... We're testing everything so
we'll know how to lay out the walls.
You know, in some museums, you put a show, the walls were already there and so you just
work with what you've got and you make it look as good as you can.
But at MoMA, every time there's a new exhibition, we invent new walls for the most part for
the special exhibitions.
So in a way, it's great because you think that you've got any idea that you wanna do,
you can use.
But when you have limitless possibilities, that's a problem too.
You know, sometimes limitations are good and they help you, but right now, I'm happy that
we have the chance to make them exactly the way we want to.
Does it look like plaster?
It's plaster but Anna just did some reflective FTIR analysis and it's actually, most probably
oil paint.
FDIR?
FTIR.
That's that machine over there.
The Fourier…
Yeah.
So I think it might be better to say oil and plaster on...
On canvas.
And it's actually, I mean, it's canvas but it's burlap.
I would say burlap, maybe it's more specific.
Ellen, was I correct
in that you were saying that now that you've taken the varnish off of "Birds Above the Forest,"
that there's a real similarity between the pigments?
I'm just...at least, visually because we haven't done analysis on this one, but just visually,
this black just feels much more similar, like they're both very matte velvety black.
And they're very close together, so, you know, it could be a material that he's just had.
Just had...has round?
So if we get more information about what the actual pigment is here, it might be interesting
to compare.
Compare the two.
Yeah.
And had you gotten to see "Birds Above the Forest" without its varnish on?
No.
There's still a little remnant just for a reminder but this is how glossy the varnish was.
Wow. Oh my God.
So it's a pretty dramatic change.
To me, it feels like that one should be a little higher.
The king?
The big one.
Really?
No?
Huh, okay.
I was thinking it looked pretty good.
Okay, but let's see it higher.
Very...
Imposing.
Imposing, yeah.
Looks much more...
Like he's looking down on everybody now.
Kind of annoyed.
Which is kind of good, it's more imperious.
Very.
Yeah.
I think maybe that's good.
Got to look at him from far away.
Yeah I think I'm good with that.
This one to me feels the least likely.
I think it's too light but...okay.
This is the only one that's kind of a true grey.
Can we...let's just hold it up a little bit.
Wow, it's nice.
It's nice.
They change, when, you know.
When they are on the wall.
Don't forget you're looking at these against a white background which also affects the
way you will get the color.
The way we perceive it.
Yeah.
Can we see the lighter ones though, just because they seem to get darker the moment we put
them on the wall?
Yeah.
Which one of these...
Hold it up for a second.
Well, that's like a slight, warmer version of that one a little bit.
This thing is...
That one's more blue, isn't it?
Yeah.
Do you want more hashtags?
You can hashtag Max Ernst.
Okay.
Beyond painting.
I never like too many hashtags. I think they're annoying.
So basically, we'll just put some tape on the back
and then we usually put more on the top just to make sure.
I think so, right?
Yeah, that's the top.
Okay, let's have a look.
And we just have to fix the...like where the M and the E meet, the contour so it feels
straight.
I mean, I guess, we might as well just go here if we can.
Yeah.
I mean, yeah, wouldn’t we just want more space
Yeah.,
It's not even that much of a difference in the end but the more, the merrier.
Because this wall's not moving anymore, right?
I don't think so, yeah.
I think they're just asking about the script.
Okay.
That's it.
So we'll just wait and then see what they say.