This packed show (both crowds & paintings) at the MoMA starts with a bang, and provides plenty of pleasant nooks & crannies to forget the chaos and find your own mental meadow. Here’s your strategy:

Walk through twice.

The first time read the wall text ONLY for the first 2 paintings… it’s the “bang” I was talking about (or read them right now! First Painting: Picasso’s Femme à la mandolin,1910. Second Painting: Kandinsky’s Impression III (Konzert), 1911) Then float through the whole exhibition without reading another word – your eyes will tell you the story and it’s helpful for the big picture to cruise relatively quick.

Then loop back a second time and find those nooks I was talking about. For me it was Brancusi’s Endless column & Piet Mondrian’s personal abstraction progression... but with plenty of options & no bad choices, you can't go wrong.

Inventing Abstraction,1910-1925 is on view at The Museum of Modern Art (11 W 53rd St) through April 15, 2013. exhibition website