I go to museums regularly (I live near NYC and have a few memberships). I also regularly take photos of the art. I have found over time that I will recall a particular piece of art but can only bring fleeting images of it to mind because I didn't take a photo. And often the objects are not available as postcards for IP reasons. Which leaves me taking photos of the art. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to fast through the museum.
I revisited this. I recently went to Madrid which has two museums with radically different policies - the Prado and the Thyssen. The Prado does not allow photos whatsoever - and they have a very good guide. It makes one concentrate that much more. The Thyssen has QR codes by almost every single piece. One can get a download of the piece likely better than what one's camera is capable of and each piece has a detailed explanation that can be read out. As soon as you figure this out, you don't take photos (which are allowed) unless you want the dreaded selfie (which I did want for a few works).
Ah, that's so interesting. And I know both of those museums well -- I lived in Madrid for a few months. Did you ultimately feel like either policy enhanced your experience?
I think I appreciated the Thyssen more, however I wouldn't say that either enhanced my experience (I just prefer not to be told what I can't do). The experience I seek in a museum is the "there-ness" - the actual being in the space with the object (which I have also felt when I attended arguments at the SCOTUS) - and the immersion into the work itself, which is a time consuming task - and the restriction at one and the ease of copying the art in the other let me take that time/space.
The comparison would be better to MoMA which allows photos but doesn't have the QR codes to download pieces - kind of the worst of both worlds. You end up with a huge crowd of people outside of Starry Night and Persistence of Memory.
As it was, at the Prado, there was a large crowd in front of the Garden of Earthly Delights, and to a lesser extent, Las Meninas. It would have been nuts of kids were going in for the Bosch-selfie.
Went to the Louvre in the fall - the Mona Lisa room is so depressing.
I agree that there's many reasons (there and at the Uffizi I took a handful for research/inspo reasons) but there were a huge group of people just going piece by piece taking photos without ever engaging with the art. Why take a photo to research later if you're not gonna look at it in person!
Yes! This!! Fascinating and deranged behavior. Saw that at both the Louvre and MOMA over the summer -- people indiscriminately photographing every single piece in an exhibit. Always wanted to ask what they were doing but suppressed the impulse, for everyone's benefit.
Many many years ago (pre all the digital) I used to sketch my favorite works of art. I often went to the Met with a small sketchbook and some pencils. Often led to pleasant conversations with the guards. I was a terrible artist so I’ve kind of softened on having the pic on my phone these days.
I love this essay format so much! I admit to taking photographs to remember some art later, as I often struggle to remember all the different pieces after a museum visit. I would certainly not need to do that with the Mona Lisa though - we can find that picture anywhere ☺️
Loved this essay, as it did more to get my brain out of the pre-election frustration than anything else. Going to get my real camera now and take some pictures of the world. (German elections coming up, mail-in voting is *completely* f*cked, expats on entire continents had almost no chance at voting)
I take photos of art as a means to study the piece on my own time.
I go to museums regularly (I live near NYC and have a few memberships). I also regularly take photos of the art. I have found over time that I will recall a particular piece of art but can only bring fleeting images of it to mind because I didn't take a photo. And often the objects are not available as postcards for IP reasons. Which leaves me taking photos of the art. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to fast through the museum.
I revisited this. I recently went to Madrid which has two museums with radically different policies - the Prado and the Thyssen. The Prado does not allow photos whatsoever - and they have a very good guide. It makes one concentrate that much more. The Thyssen has QR codes by almost every single piece. One can get a download of the piece likely better than what one's camera is capable of and each piece has a detailed explanation that can be read out. As soon as you figure this out, you don't take photos (which are allowed) unless you want the dreaded selfie (which I did want for a few works).
Ah, that's so interesting. And I know both of those museums well -- I lived in Madrid for a few months. Did you ultimately feel like either policy enhanced your experience?
I think I appreciated the Thyssen more, however I wouldn't say that either enhanced my experience (I just prefer not to be told what I can't do). The experience I seek in a museum is the "there-ness" - the actual being in the space with the object (which I have also felt when I attended arguments at the SCOTUS) - and the immersion into the work itself, which is a time consuming task - and the restriction at one and the ease of copying the art in the other let me take that time/space.
The comparison would be better to MoMA which allows photos but doesn't have the QR codes to download pieces - kind of the worst of both worlds. You end up with a huge crowd of people outside of Starry Night and Persistence of Memory.
As it was, at the Prado, there was a large crowd in front of the Garden of Earthly Delights, and to a lesser extent, Las Meninas. It would have been nuts of kids were going in for the Bosch-selfie.
I spent an entire day in 2012 at The Art Institute of Chicago and I still fondly look back at all my photos of the art. 🖼️ 🎨🧑🏻🎨
Went to the Louvre in the fall - the Mona Lisa room is so depressing.
I agree that there's many reasons (there and at the Uffizi I took a handful for research/inspo reasons) but there were a huge group of people just going piece by piece taking photos without ever engaging with the art. Why take a photo to research later if you're not gonna look at it in person!
Yes! This!! Fascinating and deranged behavior. Saw that at both the Louvre and MOMA over the summer -- people indiscriminately photographing every single piece in an exhibit. Always wanted to ask what they were doing but suppressed the impulse, for everyone's benefit.
Yeah - I need to know. The Uffizi is so funny because like - all the paintings are kind of the same?
I have seen it at MOMA, too. So moved the first time I saw Starry Night and then depressed when no one was looking not through their phone.
Many many years ago (pre all the digital) I used to sketch my favorite works of art. I often went to the Met with a small sketchbook and some pencils. Often led to pleasant conversations with the guards. I was a terrible artist so I’ve kind of softened on having the pic on my phone these days.
Love watching people do this. Especially students!
I love this essay format so much! I admit to taking photographs to remember some art later, as I often struggle to remember all the different pieces after a museum visit. I would certainly not need to do that with the Mona Lisa though - we can find that picture anywhere ☺️
Love this! 🩷
lol that first image caption
Loved this essay, as it did more to get my brain out of the pre-election frustration than anything else. Going to get my real camera now and take some pictures of the world. (German elections coming up, mail-in voting is *completely* f*cked, expats on entire continents had almost no chance at voting)
As the citizen of another country with disillusioning elections, I very much empathize with your frustration (!!).