Mr. Schnabel looking at a self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh at the Musée d’Orsay. The exhibition was like “a letter that is written from one painter to the next,” he said. Credit Julien Mignot for The New York Times.

“What the surface of a painting can be is an obsession of mine,” Mr. Schnabel said. “If you see how the plate paintings function, it’s very three-dimensional, both physically and spatially. I like dealing with physical problems and rudimentary concerns about trying to stick things to a surface.”

(Tobias Grey, “Julian Schnabel and the Great Painters, Side by Side,” NYTimes, 10-10-18)

(c) 2018 JMN.