Spending time at the Museum of Modern Art opened my eyes up to the amount of intention and work behind each art piece. As a younger teen, I never really gave modern art a chance. Now, more mature and more of an artist myself, I could tell these works of art told stories that I had never thought of before. I came to realize that it is important to learn more about the artist, their background, and the type of art that they are demonstrating in order to fully appreciate the art in front of me . One exhibit that spoke to me in a new way was the exhibition of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. His lithographs were representations of his memories of Paris at the time. Knowing this, the exhibit came to life in a new way. They were no longer just depictions of french women and men dancing or reading, I realized that these were real people – living and breathing at one point in time. Not only that, but these were Lautrec’s perception of them, which is interesting because you can learn more about Lautrec by looking at his depictions of others. These lithographs also show interesting elements of the memory. These memories of Lautrec’s now belong to future generations and how they will remember Paris at that time. Learning about the long and practiced art of lithographing also gave a new appreciation to the works in front of me. When looking at one of the works as a whole, it is beautiful enough, but once a person knows that each color in the picture depended on a new layer of ink and that most of the shapes, like heads, were created out of negative space, the audience can appreciate Lautrec’s work even more fully. Taking this new outlook and zeal with me, I explored rest of the museum and I even became intrigued in a new way by the works of Andy Warhol and Jason Pollock. It made me want to go home and do some more research on the intention behind their works and lives.