Art historian Martin Schwarz curated the Getty Museum exhibition “Heaven, Hell, and Dying Well: Images of Death in the Middle Ages” before moving to the University of Chicago. Before participating in a panel on what images of death and the afterlife say about a culture, he professed his admiration for Thomas Aquinas, Dante, and L.A.’s highways in the Zócalo green room.
If you could have a beer with one person living or dead, who would you choose?
Right now I think I would choose Thomas Aquinas. He’s somebody I’m currently working on, and he’s an incredibly fascinating person. I think I would like to know why he never finished his Summa Theologica.
What’s your favorite cliché?
My favorite cliché is just so wrong—that L.A. is superficial.
What do you miss most about Los Angeles?
I would have said the weather, but the winter was so nice in Chicago that I actually thought the winter I spent here was less pleasant than the winter I spent in Chicago. I miss the highways; I miss driving. I don’t have a car in Chicago.
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A pathologist.
What’s your go-to karaoke song?
“Strada del Sole” by Rainhard Fendrich.
What’s your specialty in the kitchen?
Palachinka. It’s basically a crepe, just an Austrian version, which is not that different from the French one. A crepe with Nutella.
What’s your hidden talent?
I forget everything that’s unnecessary very quickly.
What’s your favorite museum?
I’m biased, so I have to say the Getty.
Where did you go on your last vacation?
I was on a boat sailing from New York to Halifax. That’s why I’m so tan.
If you could speak a language that you don’t already speak, which would you choose?
Italian, so I could read The Divine Comedy in the original.