Excalibur. 1981. Great Britain. Directed by John Boorman. © Orion Pictures. Courtesy Orion/Photofest

On Saturday, November 15, as part of </i>To Save and Project: The 12th MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation</a>, director John Boorman will introduce a screening of his Excalibur (1981) in an excellent 35mm print. A second screening takes place on Monday, November 17.

U.S. Coast Guard. It Was a Record Day for Allied Soldiers as 34,355 Arrived Here. July 11, 1945

The Museum of Modern Art salutes the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces. Thank you for your service, dedication, and courage.

Henri Matisse. Two Dancers (Deux danseurs). 1937–38. Stage curtain design for the ballet Rouge et Noir. Gouache on paper, cut and pasted, notebook papers, pencil, and thumbtacks, 31 9/16 x 25 3/8” (80.2 x 64.5 cm). Musée national d’art moderne/Centre de création industrielle, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. Dation, 1991. © 2014 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs, currently on view in the Museum’s sixth floor temporary exhibition galleries, looks closely at the works Matisse created in the final decade of his career.  Adopting painted paper as his primary medium, and scissors as his chief implement, he invented a radically new form that came to be called a cut-out. But while this work was utterly new, its concerns were consistent with those that had driven Matisse throughout his entire career.

Now that there’s a chill in the air, it’s an opportune time to spend the day inside the Museum. Some highlights for this week:

This weekend multimedia artist Elsa Mora, who designed one of MoMA’s signature holiday cards this year, will bring her incredible cut-paper creations to the MoMA Design Store in Soho. Shoppers, creatives, and art aficionados alike can stop by to see her work come to life, and meet with Mora in person.

My first record player came built into a portable red-and-white leather case with two locking hasps on either side of its red leather handle. It played both 45s and 33s, and had a black plastic 45 adapter that was stored in a recessed slot in one corner. It was a magnificent machine.

Technology Will Save Us. DIY Gamer Kit. 2013. Electronic components, dimensions variable. Gift of the designers

When thinking about the masterpieces in MoMA’s collection, one might be forgiven for visualizing Picasso’s Demoiselles (1907) or Jackson Pollock’s One (1950). The canon of visual art and design—a force that has shaped popular opinion—has, for centuries, held large-scale painting in high regard. Even the Oxford Dictionary entry for “masterpiece”—(noun): A work of outstanding artistry, skill, or workmanship”—uses Picasso as its defining example.

Shown: Meret Oppenheim. Object. 1936. Fur-covered cup, saucer, and spoon, cup 4 3/8″ (10.9 cm) in diameter; saucer 9 3/8″ (23.7 cm) in diameter; spoon 8″ (20.2 cm) long, overall height 2 7/8″ (7.3 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Purchase. © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/Pro Litteris, Zurich. Hope Ginsburg: Objects in Transition class at MoMA, March 15, 2014. © 2014​ ​The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photo: Erica Gannett

Reading Stephanie Rosenbloom’s article, “The Art of Slowing Down in a Museum,” recently published in The New York Times, has reminded me of the importance of “deep looking” in the museum and ways to enhance visitor experience at MoMA. As a museum educator, I spend a lot of time thinking about the visitor and how to help improve their interactions with art. Like Italy’s slow food movement, it’s about improving quality and savoring the moment.

We may have gained an hour yesterday, but we all know what Daylight Savings brings this time of year: total, utter darkness. The best way to combat the sinking feeling that the day is already over is to get out and do something, so here are some options at MoMA this week:

Maniac Pumpkin Carvers’ Halloween re-creation of Henri Matisse’s Blue Nude sits in the MoMA film lobby

For the fourth year running, MoMA visitors who pass through the Museum’s film entrance during the days leading up to Halloween are treated to an iconic modern-art masterpiece—in seasonally appropriate pumpkin form. This year, in celebration of the Henri Matisse: The Cut-Outs exhibition, the knife-wielding crazies at Maniac Pumpkin Carvers have “cut out” a beautiful interpretation of Matisse’s Blue Nude.