Abner Henry released a seven-piece furniture collection in collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. See the furniture pieces and the Met’s iconic paintings that inspired them below.
The Pirouette console table is inspired by Edgar Degas’ The Dance Class, 1874. The ballerinas’ tutus inspired the waving layers of wood. The piece is topped with a 126-inch piece of glass.
The texture and dimension in Auguste Renoir’s By the Seashore, 1883 inspired the Coralie cocktail table. The glass tabletop resembles ocean waves. The table’s colors change depending on how the light hits. Plus, the wicker chair in the painting inspired the table’s custom metal frame.
From Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, 1887 bloomed Abner Henry’s Verlang cocktail table. Bent metal resembles the shape of a sunflower.
The Severine console table is inspired by the pointillistic technique in Georges Seurat’s Circus Sideshow, 1887-88. To re-create this look, end-grain oak is oxidized and fumed, which creates a pixelated effect. The blocks’ staggered heights also form a silhouette. The table’s brass legs mimic the shape of the trombone in the painting.
The Serena bar cabinet mirrors the silhouette of Gustav Klimt’s Serena Pulitzer Lederer, 1889. Made with a single piece of wood and sand-blasted glass doors, the cabinet exudes the same softness as the painting.
The Ventana standing mirror is a representation of truth, as is Velázquez’s Juan de Pareja, ca. 1650. The mirror is made entirely of mahogany and brass. “This piece represents self-reflection, peering into your heart to see if you are proud of what looks back at you,” says Ernest Hershberger, Abner Henry’s founder. “There is nowhere to hide, no silo to crawl into and disappear.”
Edouard Monet’s The Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil, 1874 established the theme for Abner Henry’s Duet nesting tables. The relationship between mother and son in the painting is mimicked in the position of the two tables, which are made of cerused wood infused with 24-karat gold and silver.
