Museum of Modern Art Highlights10 Must-See Masterpieces

This solitary figure (c. 1885) bridges traditional art and modernism. Cézanne builds the bather and landscape from geometric planes and bold brushstrokes, valuing structure over realistic detail. His fractured perspective paved the way for Cubism, proving that painting could reconstruct reality rather than just copy it.

This 1907 bombshell shattered 500 years of perspective. Picasso depicted five nude figures with jagged forms and mask-like faces inspired by African art. By showing bodies from multiple angles at once, he launched Cubism and declared that painting was no longer about pleasing illusions, but radical truth.

In this 1911 masterpiece, Matisse dissolves his studio into a field of saturated red. Furniture and art float in this "negative space" created by gaps in the color. It’s a bold declaration that color itself is structure, atmosphere, and emotion—a flat, decorative reality that influenced all abstract art to come.

A 1918 icon of absolute minimalism. A tilted white square floats on a slightly warmer white background. Malevich stripped away all subject and color to reach "pure feeling." It challenged the world to see art not as a picture of something, but as a spiritual experience of space and infinity.

Not a bird, but the essence of flight. This 1928 polished bronze sculpture reduces form to a single soaring curve. Brâncuși eliminated all wings and feathers to capture movement and grace. Its mirror-like surface dissolves the heavy metal into light, making the sculpture feel weightless and alive.

Miró's 1925 canvas is a dreamscape of creation. On a hazy, poured background, he loosed his subconscious to draw floating red stars, black lines, and balloons. It’s "automatic painting"—art bypassing reason to capture the raw, poetic logic of dreams and the playful chaos of a world coming into being.

The world's most famous surrealist image (1931). In a dreamlike landscape, pocket watches melt like cheese, infested by ants. Dalí rendered the impossible with photographic realism, challenging our faith in time and reality. It's a small but unforgettable window into the irrational, where the hard world goes soft.

A monumental explosion of energy. Pollock flung paint onto this 17-foot canvas on the floor, creating a dense web of "energy made visible." There is no focus, only the rhythmic record of the artist's dance. It shifted art (1950) from portraying an image to recording an event—the physical act of creation itself.

32 canvases, one for each flavor. In 1962, Warhol turned a supermarket shelf into fine art. By painting commercial packaging with machine-like repetition, he erased the line between high culture and advertising. A deadpan critique (or celebration?) of American consumerism that launched Pop Art and changed aesthetics forever.