Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.

Pantheon

Philip Guston American, born Canada

1973

Not on view

Although he took art classes periodically between 1927 and 1930, Guston was largely self-taught. The same can be said of his education in art history, to which he was introduced via professors, friends, local collectors, and publications. Guston studied modernism, Surrealism, and the Italian Renaissance with particular care. Pantheon memorializes a selection of his favorite artists, most of whose works can be viewed at The Met. In this painting, Guston situates abbreviated versions of their　names in a pink field made by mixing red and white paint, wet on wet. Anchoring this art historical tribute are two motifs that recur in his work: a canvas and easel and a light bulb and string—recalling, perhaps, the fixture that illuminated the closet where Guston often sketched as a boy.