Normally, I would never ever have visited your museum
Posted: July 5th, 2012 | Author: Jasper Visser | Filed under: Thoughts about museums | Tags: appreciation, art, audience, education, Munch, Van Gogh | No Comments »Tweet
Photo by Harald Groven on Flickr.
I’m not an art historian. I didn’t even study art. In fact, what we called ‘art’ in school was actually a weekly exercise in defacing paper and wasting paint. Performing arts were limited to having to sit through Shakespeare every two years and one year of ‘musical education’ (read: lip-synching Michael Jackson).
Nevertheless, I like art. Visual arts, performing arts, even conceptual arts and art oddities such as great food. I like art because of the process. Because of the quest for some kind of universal truth (beauty) that is behind all great art. I find art highly entertaining.
Before I started working in cultural institutions I would hardly ever go to see art. Like most of my friends, I liked art as I like marathons on Facebook.
Because I work in cultural institutions over the past years a great number of people have individually invested in my knowledge about and appreciation of art. I remember for instance walking through the National Gallery of Art in DC where Erik van Tuijn took the trouble to explain the magic of Rothko to me. I remember a great private tour through the Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid where I finally could knit together the different periods. I remember (and still enjoy) all the hours in which my girlfriend carefully explains theatre and classical music to me. Read the rest of this entry »
