Also on the walls overlooking the dining area are a painting by Alfred Maurer of twin female heads and one by Raphael Soyer depicting a dancer in leotard and tights. Again, the Kaufmans can tell the story behind the work. "Maurer was a painter who started out doing quite traditional work and switched to modernism, to cubism," says Mark. "His father was a well-known lithographer for Currier and Ives, and he was very opposed to his son's work as an artist. Alfred eventually became very depressed, and after his father's death in 1932 he committed suicide."

Stuart Davis is another favorite artist of the Kaufmans, represented here by a 1929 Paris café scene. "Davis spent almost all of his life in the United States, and that was painted the only time he was ever out of the country," says Mark. The couple's newest acquisition is also a Davis, titled "Mountains and Molehills." Women wearing bright green colors are shown looking out over working miners; the purple/pink hues in the painting's background are extraordinarily beautiful.

A painting by Social Realist Philip Evergood, "Quarantined Citadel," hangs over the baby grand, and again there's a tale to be told. "The idea is that all of the generals of all the armies are confined here, to fight out their wars with toy guns," says Irene with a smile. Another work dealing with war and peace is Ben Shahn's "Apotheosis," a narrow horizontal study for a mosaic the Kaufmans keep behind glass to protect it from Florida sun and humidity. (They also make certain to close their drapes when not at home, temporarily obscuring their waterfront views but extending the life of the artworks.)

"I spoke to Shahn's widow about that one," says Mark. "When I told her I'd bought it, she said, 'I envy you.' I asked her for some help in understanding certain parts of it, but she said Shahn never explained his work to her, or really to anyone. It was always up to the viewer to interpret it."

While the living and dining area is the setting for many of the Kaufmans' biggest and boldest artworks, every room of their condominium is filled with art, from the hallway to the study to the bedrooms. Among the treasures to be found around every corner: a Will Barnet piece featuring a woman in black and a crow perched on a branch; a couple of small paintings by Oscar Bluemner, showing that artist's distinctive use of a particular shade of red; a Coney Island piece or two by Reginald Marsh; canvases with the look of stained glass by Abraham Rattner; and several paintings by Byron Browne, one of Irene's favorites.

Another favorite is artist Charles Burchfield, whose unusual technique of constantly adding paper to the sides of his paintings as he worked-possibly an artifact of his days as a wallpaper designer-guaranteed that his pieces were never quite complete. The Kaufmans tell the story of traveling to Buffalo during part of a longer trip, expressly to see an exhibit of his paintings there. To their dismay, they arrived on the wrong day; the works had been temporarily taken down.

"But when the curator heard how disappointed we were, he made a point of coming out to take us to the back rooms where the paintings were being kept," Irene says. "We ended up having a private showing, and it was wonderful."

Irene deliberately chose subdued colors-neutrals, grays and blacks-for the furnishings and accents of their home, so that nothing would steal attention from the art they love. And, luckily, she says, the couple almost always agrees on what they love. "We enjoy a painting that tells a story, that has a message," says Mark. "We're more selective now in our purchases; we only buy something new when we feel it really adds to the overall collection. Not long ago a dealer with whom we work had a Burchfield that he said belonged in our collection. We told him we couldn't afford it, but he agreed to let us pay for it over time. He was right about it, of course."

The two say they also agree with something another collector once told them: "We don't own the paintings. We're only temporary custodians of them."