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How to walk through a museum
Donald Pittenger offers some observations on how to visit or walk through a museum. Here are my tips:
1. In every room ask yourself which picture you would take home (if you could take just one) and why. This forces you to keep thinking critically about what you are seeing. More crudely, you have to keep on paying attention.
2. Almost all museums (MOMA is one exception) hang large numbers of second-rate paintings by first-rate artists. Try to find them. Don't think it is all great, it isn't.
3. You are probably better trained at shopping than looking at pictures. Do some basic research on prices and pretend you are shopping for pictures on a budget. This will improve the quality of your viewing.
4. Go with a variety of people (but not all at once). It forces you to see the art through their eyes.
5. If you are visiting a blockbuster exhibit, skip room number one. There is too much human traffic, as the people have not yet admitted to themselves they don't care about what is on the wall.
A key general principle is to stop self-deceiving and admit to yourself that you don't just love "art for art's sake." You also like art for the role it plays in your life, for its signaling value, and for how it complements other things you value, such as relationships and your self-image. It then becomes possible for you to turn this fact to your advantage, rather than having it work against you. Keeping up the full pretense means that you must impose a high implicit tax on your museum-going. This leads you to restrict your number of visits and ultimately to resent the art and find it boring.
Comments are open, in case you have further suggestions for how to visit a museum.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on September 30, 2005 at 06:56 AM in The Arts | Permalink
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Comments
OK,I'm not sure I understand your meaning it the statement;
"stop self-deceiving and admit to yourself that you don't just love 'art for art's sake.'"
I thought loving "l'art pour l'art" freed me to like art for it aestetic values, and not require some moral context that I HAD to appreciate.
Posted by: Steve at Sep 30, 2005 8:10:49 AM
I was confused by that statement.
If I don't love 'art for art's sake', why am I at the museum? For what's sake do I love art?
I love baseball for baseball's sake, I could be watching a game.
Posted by: joshg at Sep 30, 2005 8:40:37 AM
Those are good suggestions. A few more:
1. If you live in a city, pay to become a "member" of a good museum there, and then make frequent SHORT visits to it. That way, you won't feel like you need to see EVERYTHING at once and make yourself sick of art. With short visits, you can leave while you're still a little hungry. (As Kenneth Clark said, You can enjoy an aesthetic sensation for about as long as you can enjoy the smell of an orange.)
2. If you're going to a blockbuster exhibit, read about the artist in advance and then skip over all the labels and signage in the exhibit.
3. If you feel like you really don't "get" art, try to learn more about the craftsmanship involved, by skimming "how to" books or even taking a drawing class. You'll appreciate art more if you understand all the choices involved in creating a work.
Posted by: John P. at Sep 30, 2005 9:23:17 AM
Another suggestion:
Don't look at art with an economist. Sometimes, less rationality is better. Sheesh.
Posted by: carpundit at Sep 30, 2005 9:38:48 AM
One thing that seems to hang people up about art is
that they are looking for the idea behind the work. As if
art is about illustrating an idea.
My recommendation would be to try to look at work by just
trying to identify with what is there. Every piece of work
gives you clues about how to judge it because no work no
matter how revolutionary is created in a vacuum.
Posted by: Eugene at Sep 30, 2005 9:41:46 AM
Admit early on that some art is just dumb, and realize that most of it was created either on commission (in the case of much old art) or to satisfy some part of the artist's own ego. This will take the preassure off of trying to determine "What it all means".
Also admit that there is some art you just hate, for no discernable reason, and some art you just love, with little justification. Art preferences are largely aesthetic preferences, so it's okay to like or hate something for pretty much no reason. Don't worry about what's supposed to be "good" worry about viewing what you like.
Posted by: Timothy at Sep 30, 2005 10:03:48 AM
Wow, I'm shocked to read how misunderstood Tyler's comments were. Clearly he has struck a chord that some people don't want to hear. It's true that the beauty of art is its abstraction of everything else. But we are rational beings and can only approach the world with our own limited faculties, namely, our analytical abilities. If you believe in capitalism, you have to believe that if we are spending this much time looking at/talking about art, it must offer us some utility. I read most of these comments as a fear of scientific inquiry into something "holy". Come on soft scientists, you're better than that.
Posted by: Brandon at Sep 30, 2005 10:06:31 AM
I would add to Tyler's list: Don't torture children. My mother dragged me and my brothers to museums, and ever since I have considered them labor. I won't take my daughter to art museums until they put jungle-gyms in the display rooms.
RE the controversial line, I think Tyler meant to write: you don't love art just for art's sake.
Posted by: Daniel Klein at Sep 30, 2005 10:07:34 AM
I second that Dan Klein.
Posted by: michael vassar at Sep 30, 2005 10:19:39 AM
Nice list. I always do #1 because it's engaging and forces me to think actively.
Another rule I have is always go over an exhibit twice, concentrating on your favorite pictures. Enhances the entire experience.
Posted by: jult52 at Sep 30, 2005 10:22:02 AM
I always have an espresso (or two or three) before entering a museum, as I find that without it, an overwhelming sensation to sleep comes over me once inside.
Posted by: M at Sep 30, 2005 10:41:18 AM
I always have an espresso (or two or three) before entering a museum, as I find that without it, an overwhelming sensation to sleep comes over me once inside.
Posted by: M at Sep 30, 2005 10:41:50 AM
My advice for getting more out of museums is: stop going to museums, and make your own art! It is much more rewarding, and once you have a small body of work, you will automatically find yourself more interested in, and more able to extract value from, the work of others.
Posted by: Paul N at Sep 30, 2005 12:28:53 PM
Focus. Don't try to see everything, but try to get a really good look at what you do see. John P. is right: Research the style of art or the actual art pieces ahead of time. Then pick a small number of pieces that you want to see, and spend a lot of time on them. Actually trying some similar art of your own, as Paul N suggests, is a good way to do some research if you're into that sort of thing.
Posted by: Mark Draughn at Sep 30, 2005 1:13:00 PM
Museum grade art is mostly of poor quality. The 20th century created fantastic markets where the most talented and creative people are handsomely rewarded for createing truly great art that we enjoy everyday. Any one with real talent these days makes TV, films, pop music, fashion or advetising. The only incentive to make museum grade art is ego.
Posted by: greg at Sep 30, 2005 1:17:01 PM
Tyler makes some excellent suggestions. I read them primarily as ways of focusing one's attention more efficiently in a peculiar environment. I think the most difficult aspect of properly appreciating most great museums is the aesthetic overload. There are just too many wonderful things to look at. It's impossible to properly appreciate them all. That's one reason it's such a pleasure to see great (or even merely good) art in someone's home. When there are only a few things to look at, you can really spend enough time to appreciate them.
I have to disagree with his characterization about the MoMA, however. Unless what he means is simply that the museum doesn't hang mediocre paintings by great artists. Because it certainly hangs a lot of crap by hopelessly bad, trendy flash-in-the-pan types. The permanent collection is great. But when the MoMA tries to play the contemporary relevance angle, it just looks foolish. The opening of the new building was a great example. IMHO, a good deal of it looked like it was curated by selecting random pages from a auction house catalog.
Posted by: Brian at Sep 30, 2005 2:51:59 PM
1) Torture children.
2) For most people it is probably better if they do keep their illusions about why they are going to museums. We economists of course can be hyper rational and self knowing, and... :-).
Posted by: Barkley Rosser at Sep 30, 2005 3:20:11 PM
I second the 'don't go with economists' tip. Or, if you must, go with economists who have enough knowledge of the prevailing conditions of the era to make useful comments.
Then again, I'm a fan of eighteenth-century portraiture, which means I get to enjoy relatively unpopulated rooms most of the time, and I also get to think about the points Gainsborough and his peers are making about their subjects.
More generally: if an special exhibit offers lecture evenings, and you're sufficiently curious, go to one. You won't regret it.
Posted by: nick at Sep 30, 2005 5:35:16 PM
--When you start feeling tired, leave.
--Find one you like, and look at it very closely.
--Go more than once. Go through quickly if that's what you feel like doing.
Posted by: Matt at Sep 30, 2005 6:18:13 PM
M: "I always have an espresso (or two or three) before entering a museum"
I don't think caffeine is the optimal drug to maximize your utility. Especially for a museum of modern art.
Posted by: fling93 at Sep 30, 2005 7:00:45 PM
Look at what You enjoy, never mind the art historians. If you prefer Giovanni di Paolo to Rembrant, go for it, its Your time. Don't try to see everything, take plenty of time looking at a few pictures you like. I find that standing the right distance and at the right angle to the picture, and the sequence in which I look at various parts, e.g. the background or the folds of a cloak, makes a difference. I don't know if other people have the same experience. Preferabley go alone, communicate with picture not a companion. Don't talk or otherwise disturb other people. Don't crowd other viewers - preferably one person to a picture. If when you want to move on there is someone looking at the next picture find a "free" one.
Posted by: Thomas Mayer at Sep 30, 2005 9:00:49 PM
Just to pick up on two comments above: Like Nick, I enjoy looking at portraits the most (Gainsborough is a favorite for me too). This has the side benefit that, because most people don't feel the same way, the galleries where I tend to go are generally pretty empty. By contrast, if you're an Impressionism fan, you're out of luck elbow-room-wise.
While my "rules" aren't as demanding as Mr. Mayer's, I do prefer to look alone. Even when my wife and I go to a museum together, we generally split up while in the same vicinity and then periodically touch base to share info (she knows a lot more about technique than I do).
If you're a woman, one benefit of being with someone is that it can keep the guards from being too chatty. I've heard many women complain about being pestered by museum guards.
Posted by: John P. at Oct 1, 2005 1:46:32 PM
If you have the money, hire an art historian to walk through with you. I have found this very useful -- either tell them what I want to talk about, or tell them to pick their favorites. The talk is not canned, it is usally very informative, and the rest of the people fade away while you are focused on an interesting talk. But it does use money - a hundred or two, depending. For a local museum, buy a membership and go for lots of very short visits.
Posted by: T.Gracchus at Oct 2, 2005 2:09:37 PM
Slate has an excellent review of a book I hope to buy by NYT art critic Michael Kimmelman. Michael argues in the adjacent interview that art appreciation should involve some understanding of where the artist is coming from: seeing the passion and labor helps one move beyond trite concept pieces. Personally, I found I enjoy museums after sitting in on a couple of art history courses. Nothing was created in a vacuum, so knowing at least a little about what the creator knows helps understand, at very least, the aesthetics of a work.
Posted by: allan at Oct 4, 2005 3:28:35 PM
Some of us don't lie to ourselves at all: I find most paintings excruciatingly boring and don't see why anyone would want to waste time looking at them.
Posted by: Tom at Oct 5, 2005 11:45:38 AM
