My favorite painting of all time is Le fils de l’homme (The Son of Man) by René Magritte. An apple covers a man’s face, immediately making us question what’s behind, but that’s the message: why figure out the hidden when the rest is being shown. The interesting thoughts behind Magritte’s paintings are what interest me the most. He is a surrealist painter who incorporates simple, common items and places them in areas to give them a surrealist, new meaning. This questions everything we know about the common item. He elevates simplicity into beautiful art everyone can relate to and ponder.

The exhibition at the MOMA was very surprising and beautifully constructed. It takes the museum-goer on a journey through Magritte’s life, beginning with his earlier work and ending with his later ones. It begins with typical paintings, progressing to 3D art and redefining the boundaries of the frame. Despite this progression, Magritte consistently uses the same basic idea: fiddling with the juxtaposition of objects, placing objects where they aren’t usually found and defying common sense. For example, the piece that struck me the most was La reproducción interdite (Not to be Reproduced) by René Magritte. A man looks into a mirror, yet his reflection is not shown back. This is meant to confuse us and our common sense. I wanted to know how his face looked, why the mirror was doing this. It made me frustrated – that is not how a mirror works and I want to see his face.

The last exhibition I visited was There Will Never Be Silence: Scoring John Cage’s 4’33’’. I visited it after noticing the name John Cage from my art movement project, and was further intrigued when I noticed that I knew a majority of the artists featured. I knew their famous art pieces and their main objectives in art, which intensified my appreciation for the exhibition. For example, it examined Cage’s influence on artists such as Yoko Ono, Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol – artists who pushed the boundaries of space, time, and physicality. One of the most interesting pieces was Cage’s 4’33’’ manuscript of simple plain white pages. While going around the exhibition, I noticed the art and poetry of Yoko Ono, whose poetry was very avant-garde and confusing. I did not understand it, but seeing this historical figure’s work was an amazing experience. As I was walking out of the exhibit, I heard strange, random noises. I was at first scared but then I was struck when I located the noises coming from a small wooden box in the middle of a room. There was no name on the piece, but I wish I could know who created this eerie box, I walked around the piece, hearing it from all different angles, put my ear as close as I could. I wouldn’t have noticed the piece if I didn’t explore the area, it seemed to blend into the exhibition, just as John Cage always wanted: ambient sound can change the art form.