Why I visit art museums

I had written a lyrical post about how wonderful it is to experience Spring here. How after not seeing the sun for months it actually was incredibly moving to finally have sunlight and warmth and flowers. How living in Kenya and Alabama I had never really experienced the joy that is a sunny afternoon spent on the grass making daisy chains, after having survived a real winter. How I appreciated Spring so much more this year. How I hardly recognized the sun when it finally reappeared, but how much I loved and appreciated it, and how much difference it made in my outlook on life.

That was last Saturday. Then, before I had time to edit that post, it started raining and has basically rained since last Sunday afternoon. So that is not the post I am going to, you know, post.

Instead, here are my thoughts on why I go to art museums (it seemed like a natural progression that the time, kids).

One of the au pairs who lives and works in the same town as me asked me that question recently. Didn't I find art museums boring? Did I just feel like I had to go because I lived here and they were the places I was supposed to go? The answer to the first was easy - no, I don't find them boring. I really do enjoy art museums, and I have a (very) amateur interest in/knowledge of art history (thank you Dr. Smith!). Also, I find art museums beautiful, and enjoy seeing art the way one might enjoy good food, or seeing a good movie. The answer to the second question was less easy.

Because, to a certain extent, I do feel like there are certain places I have to visit. I would like to think that this is not just liberal-arts-college-graduate guilt, although I suppose that's possible.

[NB. Liberal-arts-college-graduate guilt (noun): the intense need to prove the worth of a liberal arts education by spending time in 'cultural' and 'intellectual' locales, despite a lack of interest or knowledge. Related to the need to prove intellectual superiority by enabling one to causally drop into conversation sentences such as: "Oh, well, I found that the early Picassos in the Musée d'Orsay - the ones on display last time I was in Paris - are really more illustrative of expressionism."]

I would like to think that this is not my primary motivation. But I do feel a certain responsibility to visit culturally and historically significant sites while I'm here. Not because I want to brag about it, but because I think it will make me a more well-rounded person. I do not, for example, love modern art. But I visited the Pompidou Center anyway. Modern art may not really be my cup of tea, but it's important. Visiting the museum allowed me to witness history through art. Seeing the changes took place in art over the hundred or so years illustrated by the museum gave me a broader understanding of some of the social movements taking place at the same time.

To a certain extent Duchamp's "Fountain" is ridiculous. It's a urinal, y'all. That he signed. It's actually kind of gross. But it's also a lot more than that. It's a statement, and illustrative of a fundamental change in both art and cultural attitudes. And even if I'm uninterested in seeing it again, it was well worth the trek into Paris on a cold, rainy weekend (when I could have been in my warm, dry bed) in order to see it. And yes, I DO feel more cultured for having gone to see it, and I don't think that makes me 1. a silly tourist or 2. elitist.

I'm in Paris. It's a city whose art is a central part of its history and identity, so I don't want to squander the amazing opportunity I have to explore how it became what it is today, and why it was the capital of European culture for centuries.

Don't take this as a "GO VISIT MUSEUMS NOW!!!" spiel because that's not my intent. Nor am I trying to say that the only good way to spend free time in Paris is to explore the Musée d'Orsay. But I do think it's important not to dismiss activities/places as being for the elitist intellectual or just for tourists ('real Parisians don't go to museums! especially not with cameras!').

So I visit art museums because I have an amateur interest in art history, I actually do enjoy most of them, I am a history geek and, yes, I think I owe to myself to visit them. Going to Notre Dame or the Louvre or Versailles does not automatically make me more cultured, more well-rounded, or give me a better understanding of French history and culture. But given time and effort on my part, those visits can help me towards all of those things. So giving up my Saturdays is more than worth it to me.