Pablito

How this museum works

How the collection is made

Twenty-five painters, each given a studio in the present day and asked to paint what they see. Nothing here is a copy. Every piece is a new motif rendered the way that painter would have seen it, then chosen by a curator who says no far more often than yes.

Each work begins as a brief: a motif the painter could never have seen, and a description of how they painted, written without their name. The brief goes to an image model. A curator looks at what comes back and refuses most of it. What hangs is what was not refused. One work in every room was afterwards set in motion by a video model, from the painting as its first frame.

The brief behind every work stays on its page, under the painting and its label, word for word.

House rules

  1. 1Never name the artist in a prompt. Describe the hand, the light, the palette and the surface instead.
  2. 2The subject must be something the painter could not have seen in their lifetime.
  3. 3One piece, one idea. If the subject needs a sentence to explain, it is two pieces.
  4. 4Render as a museum photograph of a physical painting. No frames, no text, no signatures.

What “in the manner of” means

In a catalogue, a work “after” a painter is a copy of a painting that exists. A work “in the manner of” a painter is a later work made in their way of seeing, and every work in this museum is the second kind.

The rooms

The rooms are numbered in the order the painters were born. The arrow keys walk from one painting to the next and on into the next room; Escape steps back.

  1. 1The Festival GroundsPieter Bruegel the Elder
  2. 2Single SourceCaravaggio
  3. 3The Window on the LeftJohannes Vermeer
  4. 4The Sleep of Reason, StreamingFrancisco Goya
  5. 5Thirty-Six Views of Nowhere in ParticularKatsushika Hokusai
  6. 6Rückenfigur, Do Not DisturbCaspar David Friedrich
  7. 7Weather Over InfrastructureJ. M. W. Turner
  8. 8The Same Thing, Different HoursClaude Monet
  9. 9Night Café, Now OpenVincent van Gogh
  10. 10Sunday, RenderedGeorges Seurat
  11. 11The Gold Period ReturnsGustav Klimt
  12. 12Paintings for the Temple, AnnexHilma af Klint
  13. 13Read ReceiptsEdvard Munch
  14. 14Tonight OnlyHenri de Toulouse-Lautrec
  15. 15Compositions for a Louder CenturyWassily Kandinsky
  16. 16Cut-Outs for a Warm ApartmentHenri Matisse
  17. 17Broadway Boogie Woogie, Updated RoutePiet Mondrian
  18. 18Every Side at OncePablo Picasso
  19. 19Open 24 HoursEdward Hopper
  20. 20Chapel for ScreensMark Rothko
  21. 21Self-Portraits Without a MirrorFrida Kahlo
  22. 22The Factory, ReopenedAndy Warhol
  23. 23Infinity, Minus the QueueYayoi Kusama
  24. 24A Bigger NowDavid Hockney
  25. 25Notes Toward a CrownJean-Michel Basquiat

Colophon

Set in Newsreader, by Production Type, for everything the curator says, and Archivo, by Omnibus-Type, for everything the museum records. Both are served from this site. Built with Astro as a static site; the only scripts walk you between rooms and start a moving painting once you have stood in front of it.

Each room is painted a colour chosen for its paintings, never taken from them:

Wall colours by room
1 The Festival Grounds #44493A
2 Single Source #1C1816
3 The Window on the Left #45515B
4 The Sleep of Reason, Streaming #4E463D
5 Thirty-Six Views of Nowhere in Particular #D8DBD6
6 Rückenfigur, Do Not Disturb #39353E
7 Weather Over Infrastructure #3A3D42
8 The Same Thing, Different Hours #CDD1C8
9 Night Café, Now Open #2B3038
10 Sunday, Rendered #DCDCDA
11 The Gold Period Returns #1E2925
12 Paintings for the Temple, Annex #ECEBE8
13 Read Receipts #BCC3C8
14 Tonight Only #1D3A3A
15 Compositions for a Louder Century #E4E5E7
16 Cut-Outs for a Warm Apartment #22324A
17 Broadway Boogie Woogie, Updated Route #FFFFFF
18 Every Side at Once #A9ABAD
19 Open 24 Hours #D3D9D2
20 Chapel for Screens #262422
21 Self-Portraits Without a Mirror #1F4C8A
22 The Factory, Reopened #C3C5C7
23 Infinity, Minus the Queue #0E0E0E
24 A Bigger Now #E6EBEE
25 Notes Toward a Crown #EEEEEC

Curated by Stanislav Kulik, Berlin. No painting by any named artist is reproduced here, and no painter's name was used to make one.