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.

Maja Wismer, Renke B. and Pamela M. Thye Curatorial Fellow in the Busch-Reisinger Museum

“Oh, I have 500 favorite objects!”

[ten minutes later, from across the room] “One or two?”

One.

“I think it’s the Felt Suit . . . We actually have three of them, so in mentioning one I’m already smuggling in two others . . .”

And why?

“On the one hand, it is very iconic for Joseph Beuys’s work, and on the other hand, it’s just a suit. I got this anecdote of a designer who just stored it in his closet among his other suits.”

So because it’s iconic and ordinary at the same time?

“Exactly . . . When is this going online?”

I don’t know yet, but we’ll let you know.

“Can I change my mind?”

No.