The Art of Vanishing

Pager debuts with the charming story of a magical portal between a 1917 Matisse painting and present-day Philadelphia. It begins when Claire, a 21-year-old janitor at an unnamed museum, becomes fixated on Matisse’s The Music Lesson. Having somehow crossed into the world of the painting, she falls in love with one of its subjects, Matisse’s older son, Jean, a young man who has been watching Claire from the painting and has feelings for her, too. With Jean, Claire enters more of the museum’s paintings from the period, and while inhabiting these works, they embark on an exciting romance. Halfway through, Pager reveals a secret that Claire has been keeping about her life in Philadelphia, but before she gets a chance to share it with Jean, the museum is shuttered by a pandemic, and she loses access to him. When the museum reopens a few months later, the stage is set for a hackneyed plot twist involving the discovery and subsequent theft of a journal written by a woman painter from the early 20th century. Still, Pager effectively peels back the curtain on the museum’s inner workings and evokes her protagonist’s deep relationship to art. There’s plenty here to admire. Agent: Ariele Fredman, UTA. (July)