Artworks for a New Year

As we look toward 2023, we asked staff to share artworks from MoMA’s collection that embody wishes for the new year. Here’s to a year of health, good fortune, adventure, love, and more!

Camille Bombois. Before Entering the Ring. 1930–35

This painting continues to resonate with me as the year ends and a new one begins. The performers are backstage, ready to go out into the crowd. It feels the same every day when I go to work, deal with visitors, and tackle life. Each day it’s a new crowd. I put myself out there to deal with society. It’s challenging, so I welcome the new year and all it brings.
—Gilbert Dipiano, Security

Henri Matisse. The Swimming Pool. 1952

You can’t help but sigh in contentment when you step into this gallery on the fourth floor, where Matisse’s The Swimming Pool is so serenely housed. This work provides a dose of summertime year-round. It leaves viewers touched by nostalgia, a sense of play, whimsy, and an exuberance for life’s simple pleasures, such as watching the waves in a pool of water. The sloping curves of Matisse’s cutouts create an immersive experience that is almost balletic in its effect—the divers and water seem to dance around you. I hope we can all tap into the wistful serenity this piece evokes as we begin 2023.
—Jamie Bergos, Development

Umberto Boccioni. Dynamism of a Soccer Player. 1913

Just as the World Cup fills us with a range of emotions, from excitement to astonishment, this Futurist painting of a soccer player intrigues and uplifts me. Boccioni’s painting reminds me of the heroes on soccer fields, who relentlessly fight for their dreams. To portray these admirable athletes’ courageous spirit and explosive speed, Boccioni moves away from outlining their physical bodies and chooses to highlight their inner light through a kaleidoscopic composition. A key message that I take away from this painting is that everyone is radiant. May your bright energy bloom in the New Year!
—Eana Kim, Painting and Sculpture

Barbara Kruger. Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You. 2022

This piece is both beautiful and insightful, a provocative and thoughtful reflection on the extent of human desire.
—Joe Carter, Security

Alessandro Mendini. Poltrona di Proust armchair. 1978

Mendini’s armchair is a glimmering vision of color and pattern. The Italian designer’s “redesign,” imbued with references to art history (Pointillism) and literature (Marcel Proust), subverts traditional forms while rebuking modernist notions of “good taste.” Through humor and a remarkable sense of wonder, the armchair provides us with an alternative lens through which to view the world. It reminds me of Proust’s words: “If a little dreaming is dangerous, the cure for it is not to dream less, but to dream more, to dream all the time.” May this new year inaugurate a season of profound and intense dreaming.
—Amanda Forment, Architecture and Design

Gustav Klimt. Hope, II. 1907–08

This is probably one of my favorite paintings from Klimt’s golden period. The presence of a naked pregnant woman and her purity—contrasted with death and sadness—makes this painting powerful for me as a mother. In spite of a harsh and dangerous world that could threaten our families, we never lose hope.
—Alexandra Estrella, Security

Cai Guo-Qiang. Borrowing Your Enemy’s Arrows. 1998

According to the artist, this artwork references an ancient story from China, in which a famous general needs to replenish his supply of arrows. He orders his men to fill boats with straw dummies and sets them to sail through the thick morning mist. His enemy, believing a surprise attack is underway, showers the boats with arrows, giving the general 100,000 “borrowed” arrows. I hope to take inspiration from this artwork. Take the negative energy that encompasses us, transform it into positive energy, and redistribute it.
—Francis Estrada, Learning and Engagement

Raymond Savignac. You Get Fun Out of LIFE. 1954

I’ve always tended to take things too seriously—in part because of how I grew up. Even doing laundry often felt like a life-or-death situation. During the past year, I’ve been unlearning to view the world as a long hardship that we must continually overcome. I want to have more fun in 2023. I want to face life with laughter and pleasure and ease.
—Arlette Hernandez, Learning and Engagement

Outfitumentary. 2016. Directed by K8 Hardy

I like getting dressed in the morning, okay? I mostly wear thrifted and vintage clothes to work, and love the way I can change the way I see myself. One day I’m minimalist and androgynous and the next I’m maximalist and super-feminine. Before OOTD (Outfit Of The Day), there was Outfitumentary, K8 Hardy’s decade-long record of identity and gender through the performative documentation of everyday looks. Nodding to the intertwining of fashion and art, this joyous, punkish work reminds me that getting dressed can be the first creative act of the day, and that low-key, intimate daily actions can be meaningful and profound.
—Sophie Cavoulacos, Film

The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration. Galaxy M87. April 10, 2019

As another difficult year comes to a close, it can be therapeutic to seek a bit of perspective. Like, 55 million light-years worth of perspective. That’s how far away the supermassive black hole M87 is, and yet people still managed to take a picture of it. A picture. Of something that, by definition, emits no visible light. So while the realization that we are all but a transient speck in the life of the universe can be usefully humbling, the real takeaway here is that the seemingly impossible can be achieved with human ingenuity and collaboration. Now that’s a bright thought for 2023.
—Jason Persse, Creative Team

Michael Jang. Study Hall. 1973

Study Hall is an intimate look at the artist’s family as they hang out around the house in the 1970s. Seeing this lighthearted, unguarded photo reminds me of the years when my family would get together and act out scenes from Star Trek in our tiny living room. My dad wrote these original scenes for us. We were being silly and having fun being in each other’s presence. As the year closes, I can’t help but yearn to spend more time with my family. I look forward to doing so in 2023.
—Naeem Douglas, Creative Team

Refik Anadol. Unsupervised. 2022

I love the power of art to unite people! It’s so wonderful to see people from all over the world gathered in front of Unsupervised, admiring and contemplating all its grandiose beauty. It really warms my heart to see so many people joined together experiencing the same joyful feelings and emotions. I feel so grateful for all the artists who create art with so much love, and Unsupervised inspires in me wishes of love and unity for all humanity!
—Israel Zaragoza, Security