In this series, Index asks our colleagues “What is your favorite work of art in our collections and why?” This is a tall order, given that we have about 250,000 works in our collections. At a recent weekly coffee hour, our intrepid reporters posed the challenging question to unsuspecting staff. Click here to see other responses in this series.

Jessica Arista, Assistant Project Conservator of Objects and Sculpture

“Well, recently I worked on Brancusi’s Torso of a Young Girl and… I could stare at it for hours. It’s so simple but really changes so subtly in every angle that you look at it. I found myself mesmerized as I was cleaning it and sitting with it.”