What you think of it really depends on what you’re asking for. If you view the painting as a Venti-size iteration of Wiley’s ongoing project, his decades-long attack on the paucity of Black faces in Western museums and art history, it’s one-note but hard to argue with. Brightly colored and thoughtfully composed, it’s visually appealing, and even today, when it’s no longer so uncommon to see Black figures on museum walls, catching sight of one this big still elicits a thrill. On the other hand, considered strictly as a painting, “Femme Piquée par un Serpent” (“Woman Bitten by a Serpent”) doesn’t offer that much. It’s simply the adept illustration of an idea.

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Persons: Swizz Beatz, Alicia Keys, Auguste Clésinger Organizations: Giants, Art, Brooklyn Museum