I know almost nothing about art. It seems to me that what separates Magritte (and Picasso, for that matter) from the dreck that currently passes for modern art is that Margritte drew the viewer in. His vision was surreal but not incomprehensible. Modern art, in contrast, frequently alienates the audience and increasingly has the arrogant attitude that the more we are challenged to figure out what the hell to make of it, the greater it must be.
 

where are you guys? I'm craving a cup of coffee.
 

Magritte was my favorite artist when I used to frequent the Museum of Modern Art in NY back in ... my younger days. Loooong time ago. Some of his pictures are dirty though -- but they weren't my favorites.

The other artist I really liked a lot was Dali, he of the melting clocks ("The Persistence of Memory" is the name if you want to google it.) And I also liked Henri Rousseau and his sleeping gypsy, and also some Russian guy who painted a huge tree with babies in it, I loved it.

I didn't care for Picasso, I thought his art was ugly. I like pretty things. I didn't care for Warhol either, him and his stupid Campbell's soup cans, same problem: ugly. The famous Picasso painting "Guernica" used to hang in the MOMA -- now it's been repatriated to Spain, you can't see it in NY anymore. It was a pro-Communist piece of Spanish Civil War propaganda, a fact I knew from assiduously reading National Review as a wee thing.

I really used to love the old MOMA. I read recently that they have completely refurbished the place and you can't go in for free like I used to do, and wander around for an hour now and then. It costs a fortune to get in now and you have to make a major commitment to pony up so much dough to look at pictures and sculptures, you don't spent that kind of money on impulse when you only have an hour to spare.

I am just like what my grandmother used to be: old. With my fond memories. Oh well, even if MOMA were still free, I couldn't visit it on impulse now. It's too long a ride from Miami to Manhattan.
 

Funny - a co-worker was just yesterday lamenting that LACMA is no longer free. He used to roam around its halls after school when he was a young-un.

I never cared much for Dali, other than his floppy clock piece - that's iconic, after all.

Picasso - not a huge fan, although I enjoyed the museum of his work in Paris. I also like his goat statue at Moma. (Who knows if it's still there.)

If we're gonna talk impressionists, my favorite is Monet - and I don't care if that's predictable and/or uninspired. His stuff is purty.