In several paintings, heads are shown in meltdown, dissolving into fat and sweat, eyes and teeth swimming around in a puddle of fleshy goo.
In this case the players were Keith Christiansen, the museum's chairman of European paintings; its head paintings conservator, Michael Gallagher; and a leading Velázquez scholar, Jonathan Brown, a professor at New York University's Institute of Fine Arts.
In some of the larger paintings, the head shapes and the poles on which they are displayed all but disappear in generalized compositions, so that their importance is more structural than thematic.
There are special exhibitions of the fort's expansive fine art and historical artifact collection (including rare paintings, weapons, head gear, antique books and a vast store of engraved powder horns), part of which the board nearly put up for sale in 2008 to cover the fort's operational costs.
In other paintings, like "Head of Zeus" (1936-39), the lovely "Mountain and Bird Composition" (1936-37) and the highly complex "River Metamorphosis" (1938-39), Pousette-displaysplays a wonderful skill at creating repetitive forms that suggest eyes, birds' heads and other bits of nature.
Don't go looking for molecular wizardry and chi-chi Michelin style – the only art on the walls are naive paintings by head chef Frederik Andersson's young son, but do go if you are looking for brilliantly balanced food where perfectly pitched fish and meat serves as a garnish.
When Rembrandt sought bankruptcy protection in 1656, the detailed inventory of his handsome house in the Jewish quarter listed three paintings called Head of Christ.
The smaller paintings of heads that line the side gallery are much more appealing.
Condo does luridly expressionistic paintings of heads on long necks, which are enjoying a vogue in Europe.
Mid-20th-century textiles, although often dismissed as poor relatives of abstract paintings, are headed for gallery walls and fair booths in quantities not seen since the 1970s.
