The current show at the Guggenheim, a selection from their holdings called “The Great Upheaval: Modern Art from the Guggenheim Collection, 1910 - 1918,” could just as well be called “Secondary Works by Major Painters,” “Major Works by Secondary Painters,” or “Fantastic Paintings You’ve Never Seen Before."  The show, which focuses on the groundbreaking art produced against the tumult of the first World War, features all the usual suspects, including Picasso, Cezanne and Kandinsky.  But the highlights are masterful paintings by artists less well-known, including Natalia Goncharova (these cats) and Robert Delaunay (a fractured view of the Eiffel Tower), and pieces by artists better-known that reveal unknown sides.  There’s an unflinching, earthy portrait of a young woman by Chagall, and a luminous landscape by Mondriaan, which is, in its lyricism, suprisingly tender.

Most powerfully, the show reminded me how fundamentally physical, visceral and pleasure-giving painting is.  This is, I think, something more than the strength of the artworks on display and the sophistication of the collection.  It might have something to do with the experience of seeing practically all of these canvases for the first time.  Each one, from a century ago, crackles with kinetic energy.