Giorgio Morandi's paintings make me think that artists may not totally choose, or even control, their subjects or style.

Now people look at 'The Scream' or Van Gogh's 'Irises' or a Picasso and see its new content: money. Auction houses inherently equate capital with value.

Art is a way of showing the outside world what your inside world is like.

Living and working for four decades in a Bologna apartment and studio he shared with his unwed sisters, Morandi painted little but bottles, boxes, jars, and vases. Yet like that of Chardin and the underappreciated William Nicholson, Morandi's work seems to slow down time and show you things you've never seen before.

The alchemy of good curating amounts to this: Sometimes, placing one work of art near another makes one plus one equal three. Two artworks arranged alchemically leave each intact, transform both, and create a third thing.

Venice is the perfect place for a phase of art to die. No other city on earth embraces entropy quite like this magical floating mall.

I've always said that an art critic can put aside politics around art.