The Music Of Painting

“There is a species of emotion particular to painting,” wrote the French artist Édouard Vuillard. “There is an effect that results from a certain arrangement of colors, of lights, of shadows. It is this that one calls the music of painting.” Vuillard loved and thought deeply about music, and in his delicately colored interior scenes he often depicted music making. To explore the always fascinating intersection between art and music, we asked three New York composers to respond to Vuillard’s quietly enigmatic The Window, now on view in Gallery 518: Intimate Visions. The three short compositions below, from Che Buford, Marta Sánchez, and James Pratley Watson, range from a jazz exploration to a dazzling electronic landscape. They show us the pleasure of “seeing” a painting differently through a composer’s point of view; for Vuillard, after all, a picture was really “a series of harmonies.”

Scroll down to listen to these original compositions.

Marta Sánchez’s The Window

Performers: Milena Casado, trumpet; Jerome Sabbagh, tenor saxophone; Marta Sanchez, piano

Originally from Madrid, jazz pianist and composer Marta Sánchez has been a vital force on New York City’s jazz scene since 2011, performing at Carnegie Hall, the Village Vanguard, and the Blue Note. Two of her recordings made the New York Times Best Jazz Albums of the Year list.

Che Buford’s there is a meeting that defines nothing, everything

Performer: Che Buford, violin, voice, electronics

Che Buford performs as a violinist, specializing in improvisational performance, contemporary compositions, electroacoustic work, and interdisciplinary collaborations. Their compositions explore the possibilities of timbre and acoustical phenomena and connects them to elements of place, memory, poetry, and the quotidian.

James Pratley Watson’s The Window

Perfomer: James Pratley Watson, prepared piano, electronics

James Pratley Watson’s work includes post-classical piano compositions, lo-fi indie rock, experimental film scores, and orchestral works, all united by minimalism, aleatoricism, and a fusing of acoustic and electronic elements. Watson’s work was recently awarded Best Original Score at the Berlin Indie Film Festival. His band juicer released their debut album, Retire the Fences, last year.

Édouard Vuillard’s The Window is currently on view at MoMA in Gallery 518: Intimate Visions.