It is basically a large canvas, about five foot by four, painted white, with "fine white diagonal scars". Later, Serge and Marc work together to clean the blue ink off the white painting. Alone, Serge admits that he knew all along that the ink would wash off but that he lied to Marc and said he had not known. Serge expresses guilt at not being truthful with Marc about this. Serge’s last line in the play is ‘‘Why does my relationship with Marc have to be so complicated?’’

Serge: Serge, according to Marc, has recently taken a dive into the world of Modern Art and has fallen head over heels with a newfound respect for it. Modern Art speaks to something within him that makes sense and which he finds beautiful. Serge has recently gone through a divorce and has a dim view of marriage and anyone searching to make a commitment to another person. His rules for life, friendship, and art went out the window with his marriage and now he has found peace in the realm of Modern Art where the old rules are thrown out and acceptance and instinct govern what is valuable. Is Reza’s play, in the end, a modern classic or a modish crowdpleaser? I lean to the former view but the answer, as with Serge’s enigmatic painting, lies in the eye of the beholder. After Yvan's outburst, the friends calm down. The argument wordlessly settles as Serge allows Marc to deface the painting using a blue felt-tip pen. Marc draws a person skiing along one of the white lines on the painting. Serge and Marc agree to attempt to rebuild their friendship, and they begin by washing the pen marks off the painting. Marc asks Serge whether he had known that the ink was washable; Serge replies that he had not. But he had indeed known that, and feels troubled about his lie. Marc concludes by describing his own interpretation of the painting: it is of a man who moves across the canvas and disappears.And maybe it is this self-confessed respect for language, this delight in its nuance and capacity for obfuscation, that gives Reza her ear for dialogue. Which makes it all the more interesting that her success relies, in large part, on her translators – playwright Christopher Hampton, who won an Oscar in 1989 for his adaptation of Dangerous Liaisons, has translated most of Reza's plays for the British stage. Did she find it difficult to trust him? The Polanski film, called simply Carnage, is remarkably faithful to the original. Despite the setting having been transferred from Paris to Brooklyn, much of the dialogue remains and the bulk of the action takes place within four, claustrophobic apartment walls. Art raises a whole series of unresolved questions about modern art. Serge buys an apparently pure white canvas by a fashionable artist for 200,000 francs. His old chum, Marc, think it’s a piece of hud. Yves, their common friend, tries to reconcile their views and only succeeds in antagonizing both of them. Reza’s stage directions consist of five sentences, including these: “A single set. As stripped-down and neutral as possible. Nothing changes, except for the painting on the wall.” Much of the play takes place at Serge’s, where the audience sees the Antrios canvas. The painting at Marc’s apartment is a traditional landscape of Carcassonne, France. Yvan also has a painting, which Serge dismisses as “a daub” before remembering it was done by Yvan’s father. In fact, she positively eschews the notion that she sets out to write plays with "big ideas". "You know, critics in general always have a tendency to give a sociological dimension to my work. For me, I'm thrilled they say that, but it's not that that animates me. What motivates me most is writing about people who are well brought up and yet, underneath that veneer, they break down. Their nerves break down. It's when you hold yourself well until you just can't any more, until your instinct takes over. It's physiological."

Les fruits de la passion: le théâtre de Yasmina Reza, by Hélène Jaccomard (Bern: Peter Lang, 2013). How the Old Vic has reinvented itself post-Kevin Spacey | Features | The Stage". The Stage. 2017-05-04 . Retrieved 2017-05-14. The men begin again arguing over whether or not the painting is white. As they continue to argue, Marc calls Yvan a coward. Yvan responds to this by walking out of the apartment. Marc tells Serge that he no longer understands what his friendship with Yvan consists of.

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That is the plot of Art. The context, and the bone of contention, is one character’s huge investment in a minimalist modern painting, and how that affects the longstanding, three-way friendship of Serge, Yvan and Marc. Reza then wrote the entire thing in three months. "No method," she says blithely. "I just wrote it." Marcos: No deberíamos jamás dejar a los amigos sin vigilancia- Hay que vigilar siempre a los amigos. Si no, se nos escapan… Mira al pobre Iván, que nos encantaba con su actitud despreocupada y al que hemos dejado que se volviera miedoso, papelero… Pronto marido…, un muchacho que aportaba una singularidad que ahora se esfuerza por borrar. Sergio: ¡Qué nos aportaba! ¿Te das cuenta de lo que estás diciendo? ¡Todo es siempre en función tuya! Aprende a querer a las personas por ellas mismas, Marcos. The events of Art take place alternately in the apartments of Marc, Yvan, and Serge. The stage directions indicate that the same set be used for each man’s apartment, with the only difference being that each has a different painting hanging in his living room. Reza uses this setting to highlight the ways in which the painting in each character’s apartment reveals key elements of his personality that differ from those of his friends.

Karwowski, Michael. "Yasmina Reza: From 'Art' To 'The God Of Carnage'." Contemporary Review 291.1692 (2009): 75-83. OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson). Web. 8 Jan. 2015. The quote about laughter being dangerous was, she says, taken out of context. And it seems self-evident that anyone who makes a character throw up on stage over a priceless Kokoschka catalogue in the middle of a supposedly civilised discussion between adults (as Annette does in God of Carnage) must have a sense of humour. More vitally, the text leaves its own blank spaces for the actors to fill with technique. (...) Art may not exactly coincide with one's own idea of men behaving naturally, but it certainly allows for a demonstration of shared skills that moves and impresses, leaving you at the curtain-call with the unusual sight of three grown-up chaps holding hands." - John Stokes, Times Literary SupplementReza’s ambivalent epistemological position, treading a fine line between flimsy playfulness and tragedy is what sustains her play’s appeal. It’s certainly what kept the audience entertained and fixated on the relationship between the three men. The dialogue was lively intercepted now and again with the occasional f-word which always sounds amusing when uttered by middle-aged men talking about highfalutin subjects like art. Yasmina Reza erhält WELT-Literaturpreis 2005 für ihr Lebenswerk". Buch Markt (in German). 7 October 2005 . Retrieved 11 November 2012. Does she still consider herself a moralist? She smiles. "There are all these university theses that say I'm a moralist. I don't know if I am or not. Perhaps…" She lets the thought hang, taking another sip of her tea.