Unfinished...

2:05 p.m.

04/11/16 - When does the artist decides that his artwork is finished? The Met Breuer, the new exhibition space by the Metropolitan Museum of New York, has opened an exhibition with 197 works that pretends to answer such question.

Sacred Family with St John Baptist, by Perino del Vaga
(a.k.a. Pietro Buonaccorsi) - 1528-1530

“Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible” is a historical analysis of incomplete artworks, left like that on purpose or because the artist decided to stop during the making. The exhibition begins with Renaissance and Baroque artists, period which privileged the skill of the artists. An unfinished artwork of that time allows us to see the creation process. The term non finito (intentionally unfinished) was given to unresolved works, those with an open ending. Some of the great masters like Donatello, Titan and Rembrandt explored this aesthetic characteristic, leaving their canvases with no conclusion. We see in them a certain spontaneity and vivacity, which ask us to imagine an end to the artwork.

For example, the following work shows a possible alternative of what can happen to an unfinished painting. The identity of the woman and her daughter in unknown, but maybe both of them were part of Titan's family. After his death, the painting was altered by someone at his studio, transforming it into a "Tobias and archangel Raphael", which totally diminishes the original quality of Titan's work. In the second half of the 20th century, the previous unfinished layers with the mother and daughter were re-discovered and the original masterpiece was saved.

Portrait of a Lady and her daughter, by Titan (Tiziano Vecellio) - ca 1550

Technique: oil on canvas

Tobias and archangel Raphael - Titan's Studio

Painting done on top of the artist's.

The death of the artist is also a common cause for unfinished works. This happened to El Greco, who died while painting three commissioned works for Toledo's hospital. Two of them were completed by his son, while one (below) was never concluded. The lack of sky and background causes the figures to look like floating. The scene, described in the Book of Revelations, shows St John moved by a vision. The top part of the canvas was cut in 1880. This painting had a huge impact in many 20th century artists, like Picasso (who saw it at Thomas Hart Benton's studio in 1905) and Jackson Pollock. Both were inspired by the lightness of the figures and the weight of the atmosphere.