On an afternoon in early November, I arrived at Tony Bennett's home on the 15th floor of a high-rise on the southern edge of New York City's Central Park.

The sprawling three-bedroom apartment's wall of windows opens on a heart-stopping view of the park and floods the rooms with a steady north light — “a painter's dream,” as Bennett once said — which matters, because as well as being one of the world's greatest singers, he is also a serious visual artist.