This image gives me tremendous anxiety.
The Louvre, Paris, France Summer 2024
Visiting museums and art spaces used to be places for contemplation, absorbing cultural knowledge, and even artistic stimulation. Has this experience been lost forever? While it’s fantastic that so many people want to visit museums and art spaces, viewing art with overwhelming crowds is not beneficial. Long lines, noisy galleries, and insane crowds that do not pay attention to the actual art but more to their camera are becoming the norm. I also take pictures of everything, but I don’t film myself in front of art, impeding others’ ability to see anything. It does make me grumpy when I want to see a painting, and I cannot break through the crowds. It feels harmful to the institution and me, primarily because people are not paying attention.
The Louvre, Paris, France Summer 2024
With hordes of people visiting museums, there is a degraded visitor experience, building and art preservation risks, and security challenges. Is this all because of social media, increased global tourism, or just the popularity of major museums? Art as a spectacle is part of the problem, but not all art should be considered a spectacle. You should be able to examine brush strokes and enter the work’s emotional content, which cannot be done surrounded by 500 people.
How do you feel inside the museum – why do you go?
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