Unfinished Art at the Met Breuer

If I were a painter, I would know when a painting is done when the vision in my mind of the person or object matches what I have on paper.

      I feel that all of the pieces in this show belong in the exhibit. El Greco’s painting, “The Vision of Saint John” (ca. 1608-14) seems finished to me, though, evidently, it was not complete to the artist. A painting is finished when the artist feels that it is. It is physically unfinished because it is part of an altarpiece. If I saw the other paintings in the altarpiece, I would deem “The Vision of Saint John” as unfinished by itself. Additionally, this piece was not on the audio tour.

      One piece that was not on the audio tour was Alice Neel’s “James Hunter Black Draftee” (1965). The incomplete quality of this painting gives it more depth and meaning. Neel only colored Hunter’s face and left the outline of his body “unfinished.” When he sat for Alice Neel, James Hunter had recently been drafted for the Vietnam War. When Hunter failed to come back for their second sitting, Neel called the work “unfinished.” This partial work is significant in two ways; Hunter did not return to model for Neel and many soldiers in the Vietnam did not come back home.

      Another piece that was not in the audio tour is Alina Szapocznikow’s sculptures, “Tumors Personified” (1971). Szapocznikow created this piece after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The fragmented heads symbolize how Szapocznikow feels after her diagnosis, broken and shattered.