Gallery No. 1, at the extreme end of the south wing, is given over to the paintings and sculpture of the Italian Futurists.

For those who would care to know precisely what the makers of these singular things are driving at, the chapter on their work in the Catalogue De Luxe by their spokesman, Omberto Boccioni, is recommended.

At the same time, perhaps it is well that a little note of warning should be sounded in regard to the danger of forming fixed opinions by means of reading about art instead of using one's own eyes and one's own honest judgment in the matter Critics, artists, and the general public have often been convicted of failure to understand new forms of art. This has happened so often that at last a contrary habit has been established, namely, to welcome eagerly each and every manifestation, no matter how bizarre, simply because it is new. And this last state is more dangerous than the first. It is more dangerous because license is always more injurious than restriction; the whole school of modern "liberty at any price" propagandists to the contrary notwithstanding. To the writer of these notes, it seems certain that what this gallery contains is simply the anarchistic inventions of a tribe of utterly egotistical and dangerous fanatics; to be condemned without hesitation, finally and firmly. But there are many other opinions, of course; so it is up to you, dear reader, to form your own.