In The Art of Vanishing, we are treated to a behind the scenes look at an art museum. And I mean literally behind the scenes because Claire, a cleaner at the museum at night has found a way to enter the paintings on the wall. What unfolds is a tender and unique love story between Claire and Jean- the son of Henri Matisse- who is portrayed in a family portrait on the wall of the museum. Through a bending of time and space, the couple meets every night after Claire finishes cleaning and parts before they can be seen.
I really liked much of this book. What I didn’t like were the parts about the pandemic and the parts with Jeremy, Claire’s ex. I didn’t think either storyline added to the value of the book. I honestly don’t know when, if ever, I will be okay reading books set during the pandemic lockdown. For me, it’s too soon! And Jeremy coming back into the storyline was a distraction. Also I don’t feel like the ending with Jamie was quite explained enough and there was an opportunity to make this a more full and interesting story at the end when Jamie herself took over cleaning the galleries.
This was a good book, whimsical, sweet and sad. The author did a clever job of noting the lack of women artists during much of the history of art, while celebrating what might have been had women had equal footing.
Worth a read but I feel like this could have been a 4 star book easily if the less whimsical parts were left out.
Thank you to Net Galley and Random House Publishing for this advance e-book.

While magical realism and stories including art/artists are not usually my cup of tea, I absolutely delighted in this debut novel about a young woman and her special abilities within her new job as an overnight museum cleaner! What a fun tale and I learned a few things along the way, as well! This was a fantastic escape and just what I needed during a busy time - highly recommend when you need a break from "regular" life and want to read about some fun adventures! I will definitely think of this story, and these characters, the next time I'm in a museum or perusing works of art!

3 / 5 Stars
What a fun but very confusing ride! In “The Art of Vanishing,” Claire just started working at a museum as one of the night time cleaners. She admires all of the art with an eye on a particular painting by Matisse of his family. Claire discovers that she can step into the art and meets the man of the hour, Jean Matisse. They start to fall for each other and try to navigate what love looks like between the artistic and real world.

The premise is really fun and I liked the whimsy of the book. If you like the magic of “Night at the Museum” or when Mary Poppins walks into art, you will like parts of this book. Just a touch of magic is fun to read and it felt like a nice change of pace for me.

I liked Jean and Claire’s sweet love. At times, the writing felt a little YA (with one open door sex scene) but that might be due to the fact that both Claire and Jean are young (early 20s). I left like they jumped to love pretty quickly but I am just writing that off to the fact that Jean is old timey and I don’t feel like it is instalove when it is in a historical setting (which his art is technically a historical setting? Just go with me on it).

I just found the genre of the book pretty confusing. For the first half, it is a low angst, easy, sweet romance. For the next quarter, it is historically accurate doom and gloom. And for the last quarter it is a hybrid mystery/heist. I just felt a little confused as to what I was reading and I think that made it hard to understand Claire as a character because her motivations and information about her kept changing based on the genre changes (Jean stayed steady). But if you like being surprised by a book, you might enjoy that aspect!

Thank you Ballantine Books and NetGalley for providing the eARC! All opinions are my own.
Publication Date: July 1, 2025

The Art of Vanishing” by Morgan Pager had an undeniably intriguing and original premise—one that initially drew me in with its promise of mystery and depth. The concept felt fresh and full of potential, hinting at deeper themes of identity, disappearance, and reinvention. However, despite the strong setup, the execution fell short for me. The writing leaned heavily into overly sentimental and sometimes cheesy dialogue, making it feel more like a surface-level romance than a nuanced exploration of its themes. The romantic elements developed far too quickly to feel believable—what some might call “insta-love”—and that took away from the emotional weight the story could have carried. Overall, while I appreciated the creativity of the concept, the style and character development didn’t resonate as deeply as I had hoped.

Claire is a museum employee who works the night shift. She loves the paintings and feels a deep connection to them, especially one painted by Henri Matisse that depicts his family. Jean Matisse is front and center of the painting, reading a book but actually watching clare from inside his frame.

When Claire discovers that she can step into the painting and travel between the paintings in the museum, her entire world changes. Soon, she spends her days waiting for her shift to come so she can jump into his world. Jean and Claire fall in love and must find a way to defy reality and find happiness.

Trigger Warnings
pandemic

Why Jackie loves it
There are so many things that I love about this delightful novel. The story is told from the point of view of both Claire and Jean and I love getting their perspectives. I also love that this book takes place in the Barnes. It is not explicitly stated, however, as a local to the town where the original Barnes was located, it was interesting to hear about it from the paintings’ points of view. This book is so original. I listened to and read the book and couldn’t get enough. Thank you, PRH and PRH Audio, for my copies of this book.

I’ve been following Morgan Pager, @nycbookgirl, on Instagram for years so I was really excited to hear that she had written her first book, “The Art of Vanishing”.

Claire is a newly hired night shift janitor at an art museum in Philadelphia, the Barnes Collection. Jean is a subject in one of the museum’s paintings and the son of Henri Matisse. He’s spent the last century observing museums patron who’ve come to admire the painting he lives in but has never been able to interact with any of them. Until he meets Claire. Jean and Claire learn that she has a special gift that allows her to enter the museum’s paintings each night, and from there a romance blossoms between the two.

Really cool plot, right? Perfect for any reader who grew up loving “From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler”? Kind of. The problem for me was that this book felt heavy on concept and light on heart. And the plot seemed to move faster than the character development. In fact, at many points the plot completely overshadowed character development to the point that you didn’t truly get to know the characters until 75% of the way through the book.

I’d also note that this book is partly set in 2020 and COVID-19 is a plot point, in case that’s something you’d like to avoid.

Anyway, I am sorry to say that I liked but didn’t love this book. I think with the help of a better editor it could have really been something special.

But I can’t think of any other books like this for readers who are also art and museum lovers, so I think for them this book will still hit the sweet spot because it is so unique. Also worth a read for fans of magical realism romances, another niche genre.

Morgan Pager's debut, The Art of Vanishing, is a magical take on the art world and showcases a breathtaking love story with great emotional depth. I've followed Morgan for quite some time now and was ready to do anything in my power to be able to read her debut early. Luckily, all I had to do was request it and Ballantine so graciously granted my request.

Claire is a museum employee, working nights and admiring the masterpieces hanging on the walls. She's always had a thing for art, ever since she was little, and wrote a story about a girl who could enter into paintings. Jean Matisse spends his days and nights stuck in a painting crafted by his father, Henri Matisse. Jean's time has been painstakingly spent in pretty much the same way for decades. That is, until Claire enters the gallery in which he exists in canvas and paint. One day, after Claire has spent many nights testing the paintings, she discovers she can enter into them and falls into Jean's painting. Together, they explore the bounds of their relationship and both strive to make their story a love story that lasts.

I love books that bring the art world into them. I also love books with a magical realism element to them. So, Morgan's debut was a no-brainer for me and I devoured it in just a little over two days. It would have been sooner, but my day job beckoned. I love to visit art museums and after reading The Art of Vanishing, I know I'm going to see each work of art in a different light. The Art of Vanishing is an outstanding debut and a must-read book for all!

Thank you to Ballantine for the e-ARC!

If you could step into any painting and wander around, what would it be?
Thank you, Random House, for the gifted copy of The Art of Vanishing {partner}
 
Genre: Magical Realism
Format: 🎧📖
Pub Date:  7.1.2024
Pages: 304
Star Rating: ☆☆☆.5

I love spending an afternoon getting lost in a museum — being surrounded by the work of some of the most creative minds in history or standing just feet from a priceless artifact. There’s something magical about it that always helps me see the world more clearly.

That’s precisely what drew me to The Art of Vanishing by Morgan Pager. The idea of stepping into artwork? Yes, please! Pager brought both her characters and the art itself vividly to life, and I truly admired that about the book.

That said, the story started strong but lost some of its spark for me as it progressed. The pacing felt rushed, and the romance didn’t quite click for me. I can’t pinpoint exactly why, but I felt like something was missing — though there’s so much promise in Pager’s writing, and I’m excited to see what she does next.

Read if you enjoy:
🖼 Art museums
🗽 New York City
📜 History

Even though it wasn’t a perfect fit for me, I loved the concept, and I think many readers will enjoy the blend of art, history, and imagination. I recommend reading The Art of Vanishing if you enjoyed The Night at the Museum or Kate & Leopold.

Read This Book If…art museums are your favorite places to visit!

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
The Art of Vanishing by Morgan Pager

Genre: fiction with romance and magical realism
Spice Level: 2/5🌶, one cracked open door scene
Setting: art museum in Philly
POV: dual, 1st person, past tense
Tropes: single mom

My Thoughts:
This was such a cute read! I really enjoyed the unique premise and the world of the paintings within the museum.

This does not follow your usual romance structure, so I was missing some key plot points. The first 50% felt like a cozy and sweet romance, then they spend a significant part of the book apart, and thennnn something big happens and suddenly it’s the end.

Overall, the pacing felt a little off and I wanted more emotional connection between our two lovers. The forced separation of our characters was an interesting conflict, but the ending was not satisfying to me.

If COVID was a particularly trying time for you, this book does cover that time period.

Thank you to the publisher for my advance copy!

The Art of Vanishing by Morgan Pager
#sixtyfirstbookof2025 #arc #theartofvanishing

CW: Covid pandemic

From NetGalley: Jean’s life is the same day in and day out. Frozen in time by his painter father, the legendary Henri Matisse, Jean observes the ebb and flow of museum guests as they take in the works of his father and other masters like Renoir, Picasso, and Modigliani. But his world takes a mesmerizing turn when Claire, a new museum employee, enters his life. Night after night, Claire moves through the gallery where Jean’s painting hangs, mopping the floors, talking softly to herself to stem her loneliness, and gazing admiringly at the masterpieces above. The alluring man in the corner of the Matisse—is he watching her? Why does she feel a deepening pull to him, like he can see her truest self, her most profound secrets? Did he just move? In an extraordinary twist of fate, Claire discovers she can step through the frame of Jean’s painting and into a bygone era, a lush, verdant snapshot of family life in France in the throes of the First World War. She and Jean begin a seemingly impossible affair, falling in love against the backdrop of the gallery’s other paintings come to life…
but as their happiness is threatened by challenges both inside and outside the museum, Claire and Jean find themselves in a fight to preserve the love they’ve hardly dared to dream of. Will their extraordinary connection defy the confines of reality, or will the forces conspiring against them shatter their carefully curated happiness?

My thoughts: Well, this was cute. Not my usual but it was written by someone I follow on bookstagram and I was curious. I read it in one sitting and I think it would make a really great movie. It asks questions like, what is art, who does it belong to, who is allowed to make art? I enjoyed it for the quick look into the museum world, and I’m very curious to learn more about what influenced the author and what artwork might have inspired the story. That said, you have to ignore some glaring logistical plot holes in this one. But it’s cute enough.

Thank you to @ballantinebooks and @netgalley for the advance copy. (Pub date is 7/1/25)

Enjoyed the base concept of the book and had positive moments - felt the ending to be rushed and didn't really fit to me to the rest of the story.

I'm not much of a romance reader, but the magical elements of The Art of Vanishing called to me, and I'm so grateful. This is an incredible debut novel. It is cozy and lovely and while I didn't love the ending, I get it. Highly recommend checking this out for a perfect summer read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the eARC!

This book started off SO well - I loved almost the first half of the book. I wish we could have read more about Jean and Claire exploring art. I also think the book could have benefited from including images of the painting it was mentioning (at least Jean's painting, if nothing else).
However, once Pager started adding in issues to keep them apart, the magic of the story sort of fell off. While the introduction of the COVID pandemic to the storyline was pretty interesting, I'm not sure the exploration of Claire's abilities was really necessary - we might have been better off without any answers.
I'm also not sure what the whole Luna/Jeremy story line brought to the story.

Night at the Museum meets The Time Traveler’s Wife with painterly magic and a wistful kind of love that tiptoes through your heart like bare feet across a museum floor.

The premise? A lonely museum employee. A handsome man trapped inside a Matisse. Living paintings. Secret love unfolding inside art. I mean—yes, yes, a thousand times yes. I was completely enchanted in the beginning. The atmosphere was rich, the writing? Gorgeous. It gave me those golden-hour feels that make magical realism so intoxicating.

Claire and Jean’s connection builds with this slow-burn, stolen-glance rhythm that feels timeless (literally and emotionally). Every step through a frame was like stepping into another dream. Glittering parties, echoing galleries, brushstrokes that pulse with life—utterly transportive.

But then... just as the story was ready to reach its emotional crescendo—it felt like someone hit fast-forward on a love story I wasn’t ready to leave. The ending? Rushed. Not quite as magical as the beginning. It fizzled where I wanted it to flare, and I was left feeling like a painting left half-finished.

That said—would I still revisit this museum of magic and melancholy? Absolutely. I’d reread it just for the world Morgan Pager created. The concept is too lovely to forget, even if the final brushstrokes didn’t land where I hoped they would.

For fans of romantic whimsy, dreamy settings, and art that whispers when no one’s looking—this one’s still worth stepping into. Just be prepared to crave a different ending.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (minus one star for the rushed final act, but the vibes were strong)

A truly original debut novel from Morgan Pager. Claire takes a night shift cleaning job at an art museum to mop floors and admire the art. She becomes enamored with a Matisse painting of his family in the countryside and seems to see the subjects, moving? Could that be right? Magic ensues and Claire is transported into the painting and a magical art world with the subjects. Jean, the son of Matisse, takes her on an adventure of a lifetime. Could she be in love with this man? This cannot be real but somehow it all is so real.

Morgan Pager created such an inventive, magical love story. Suspend reality and fall in love with Claire and Jean.

Thank you Ballentine Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The idea for The Art of Vanishing is pure genius! BUT, the delivery fell flat for me. Here are a few of my issues:
- the pandemic is a plot point, and I know it's been five years, since the first year that COVID hit, I know of several readers/patrons who would find this plot hard to finish whenever this hits within the story. Maybe having a disclaimer at the beginning of the story may be helpful.
- the Dual POV fell flat for me...it was hard to buy into Jean's POV. He is living in a different century as Claire, yet knows some similar language patterns and things like a cellphone, yet not others? I feel as if this story would have been better from a either a single POV or third person.
- I love the magic system and I am ok with not a lot of things being explained, but it is not as fleshed out as it could be. This wouldn't be as big of an issue if it was to account for pacing, but that fell flat because the ending felt so rushed and the characters didn't come together in a super satisfying way.

WHAT I LOVED:
- this is a love letter to art and the museums of the world!
- Night at the Museum, but paintings! I mean, WOW?! I know I am going to be staring extra hard at the art on the walls the next time I enter the art museum.

This was one of my most highly anticipated reads of the year and wow, it completely delivered. I read it weeks ago and I still can’t stop thinking about it. The concept was so unique and unlike anything I’ve read before. I was hooked from the very first page and genuinely didn’t want to put it down. It had this immersive, cinematic feel, like I was right there with the characters the entire time.

The writing was absolutely stunning, emotional, vivid, and layered without ever feeling overdone. It hit that perfect balance of mystery, heart, and intrigue. Every detail felt intentional, and the story stayed with me long after I finished. Easily a new favorite, and one I’ll be recommending to everyone!

The Art of Vanishing is a book about a woman who gets a night shift janitorial job at an art museum and, upon realizing she can somehow step inside the paintings, falls in love with one of the subjects. It’s a fast read and very fun — I think it would make a GREAT beach read this summer.

I loved that this was written as a dual-POV novel. I had a great time in Jean’s head, spending time in Pager’s imagination of what it would be like to be the subject of a painting, as well as how the paintings all interacted with one another. But if you’re looking for a detailed explanation of how the magic of the story works, you’ll be disappointed — this book is fast-paced, plot-forward and magical for magic and whimsy’s sake, and reading it felt like sitting out in the sun on a warm spring day: fleeting and good for the heart. It worked really well as an audiobook, and I thought the narrators did a wonderful job.

There is one caveat to that recommendation of this as a beach read, which I don’t think is really a spoiler, but if you don’t want any details, you can finish reading this review now. (Okay, last chance.) The pandemic is a major plot point in the story, so if that tends to put a bit of a damper on your reading experience, just know that going in. That said, I think this was really well done, and overall the book doesn’t have much heaviness about it at all.

Took me a second to get into this one and to be able to picture the world how the author intended (I think). I enjoyed parts of this but was never sure where it was going and I think some of the twists came across as disjointed to me and I didn’t feel like they were brought together in a way that was satisfying. But I loved the concept and the relationship that grew

I love the inspiration of this book, but overall the writing fell a bit flat for me — no real depth or motivation to keep the story going, kept asking myself “but why?!” while reading. I also admire the author’s central idea of “what if you could step into paintings?” but unfortunately the attempt at magical realism didn’t quite land. Would have benefitted from less practical details and more focus on relationship building. Disappointing, because I enjoy @nycbookgirl’s content and really wanted to like it! Thank you to NetGalley / Random House / Ballantine for my ARC.