During a preview tour of the new Seattle Art Museum (opening May 5) recently, I noticed that the lobby of the old Venturi building was scrubbed clean of bright color, instead showing only muted colors—white, gray, tan. Sounds regular enough for a museum lobby, except then I remembered what I missed: Sol LeWitt’s vivid wall drawing of blocks that used to hang over the entire space, forming an implicit contrast with the ancient sculptures on the other side of the museum’s first floor. The drawing was made according to the artist’s specifications, directly on the wall, and when the wall was torn down, so went the drawing. The artwork was not the drawing, but the specifications, and it can be remade at any point. But even given its conceptual framework, it is possible to feel the pang of it being missing. When I heard this morning that LeWitt had died, I felt the pang again.

^{Seattle Art Museum’s Seven Cubes with Color Ink Washes Super-Imposed (1997), consisting of India ink washes and installation rights, by Sol LeWitt, 1928-2007.}

^{Seattle Art Museum’s 1,2,3,4,5 (1980-1983), balsawood and chipboard, by LeWitt.}