I experienced a blast of artistic expression and autonomous understanding when I saw the painting, “Masks Confronting Death” by James Ensor, at the Museum of Modern Art, two weeks ago. The MoMA is located in Midtown, a beautiful part of Manhattan, with plenty of bustling movements and attractions. From the outside of the museum, I peered in between glass panels to see its sculpture garden, where curated sculptures sideline the garden’s granite path for visitors to see. My eyes opened wider, and I was ready to expect the unexpected as I entered the doors of a building that, on the outside, is minimalistic by disguise. I visited the MoMA, initially, to look at the Charles White exhibition. White was an African-American artist, who lived during the Civil Rights Movement and wanted to demonstrate racial concerns and the African-American struggle in his works. I had a bias before I engaged with his works because I knew something about the artist and understood his intentions. Thus, I was not able to really step foot into one of his paintings with innocent eyes. I continued to explore the MoMA, floor by floor and felt like a shrimp navigating its way on the ground, where the ceilings were 21 feet tall, in a sea of recognizable and unrecognizable art. I sidestepped paintings I had seen in the past, in books, or media, which included Jackson Pollock’s drip-style paintings and Claude Monet’s, “Water Lilies.” I saw complex structures of robot limbs that were juxtaposed by paintings of simple yellow rectangles. With such vast, well-curated quantity of works of modern art, the MoMA did become intimidating; I wasn’t sure if would locate the artistic landmine that I was waiting to step into and explode onto me. Ten feet away from famous “The Starry Night,” and hanging from on a white wall in an isolated corner, I was finally struck by “Masks Confronting Death.”

A figure of death, centered in the bottom half of the oil-based painting, immediately caught my attention, as we locked eyes. Death was wearing a red hat with a white brim and was draped in what appeared to be white cloth, a color that contrasted with surrounding colors and hues. On top of the hat, there was a living yellow flower that was in total opposition of Death. The flower signified to me that even life can stem from death. He maintained a constant stare, with his opaque and empty eyes, as if he was looking beyond the superficiality of my body and instead was peering into my soul. I paused in looking at the painting to tie my shoes but viscerally felt Death’s gaze pressing down on my being. The significance of Death’s stare was in his imminence and permanence. No matter how long my staring contest with Death lasted, I knew that I could never win. I realized that death is unavoidable. As a result, Death is always staring at us, as depicted in this painting, even when we are not looking back. While looking at Death, I also thought of William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet. In one scene, the protagonist, Hamlet, has a soliloquy where he ponders over the thought of suicide and where one’s spirit goes after death. After contemplating over this uncertainty, he decides that life is worth living after all, and ending his life is not a reasonable course of action. I guided my eyes around Death and saw five masked figures shown in the half-length of the foreground beneath a luminous sky, clustering around Death himself. The masks had a shocking intensity. One had unnaturally wide, staring eyes, others awkwardly shaped noses and senseless smiling mouths, one a flamelike topknot of blue hair and another adorning blue circular glasses. These masked figures confronted death in a sardonic and almost humorous fashion, in their facetious smiles and stares. In light of the severity and seriousness of Death, these masks didn’t bask in his power but instead shrouded him and made him weak. They looked down at Death and seemed to laugh at him. Maybe it is because they knew that Death is feared but does not hold their faith. The expression of the masks indicated to me that death is avoidable and can be prevented. The masks also able to bring a freshness of color and wild unexpected gestures. I was able to experience shrill expressions that appeared to come alive in front of me and challenge death, which initially instilled fear in me. I circumvented my eyes around death and was able to notice what I initially ignored.