What Makes a Masterpiece?

In the Fall of 2019, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts welcomed four incredible paintings by Thomas Moran, Georgia O’Keefe, Diego Rivera, and Alma Thomas, on loan from the prestigious collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Art Bridges.

With their arrival came the opportunity to ask the following questions: What makes a masterpiece? Can we tell today what will be considered a masterpiece later? Starting in October 2019, the Highlights Wall in the Museum’s entrance asked visitors to share their own thoughts about the who, what, where, when, why, and how of “masterpieces.” The responses offered stirring insights that speak to the core value of art.

To further explore this philosophical question, UMFA Art Lovers, as well as Patron and Sponsor were invited to an exclusive virtual event with Sarah Urist Green, host of PBS’s The Art Assignment and the author of You Are an Artist. We hope you’ll join us to learn more and question our common ideas of what constitutes a masterpiece, both today and in the past.

The Lay of the Land: Landscape Paintings from the Smithsonian American Art Museum is one in a series of American art exhibitions created through a multi-year, multi-institutional partnership formed by the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of the Art Bridges + Terra Foundation Initiative.

Support for the exhibition of Diego Rivera's La Ofrenda provided by Art Bridges.