Art on the Run

Me pausing just long enough to get a photo
with Edward Hopper's Nighthawks in 2025

I love art, but I’m a terrible museum visitor. This flaw is clear every time I enter a museum or gallery, whether it’s somewhere in Europe, New York’s Chelsea or Museum Mile, or at the Cleveland Museum of Art in my hometown.

I've written before about being a dilettante. There's a connection between my superficiality and how quickly I move through museums, skimming content and jumping from one recognizable piece to another, rarely taking the time to truly absorb anything.

What’s my problem? While I might have undiagnosed attention deficit disorder, I suspect that my character flaw of impatience is more responsible for why museums make me restless.

I know that slow viewing, like the close reading of a poem (I was an English major, after all), offers many rewards. I've attended museum programs and lectures that made me slow down, participate in docent-led dialogue, or listen to an expert. These programs are excellent remedies for my manic marches through museums.

But when I’m on my own, I tend to devour works of art quickly. Chicago’s Art Institute is catnip for dabblers like me and one of my favorite museums because of its unmatched collection of iconic European and American paintings. Adam and Eve? Check. Nighthawks? Check. Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte? Check. I rapidly jump from masterpiece to masterpiece, to the point that Joe gets whiplash.

I'm not the only one who doesn't pause for Picasso. I often see the same people who didn't take the time to appreciate a Renaissance painting lingering in the gift shop. They spend more time on the merchandise than on the masterpiece, preferring T-shirts over Titian and Tintoretto.

I once worked at a museum that had a program encouraging visitors to slow down and spend an hour focusing on just one artwork. Even though it was a lousy museum, the idea was good.

My mad dashes through museums are better than no visits at all. Despite my poor viewing habits, I go to the Cleveland Museum of Art about 10 times a year. 

Now, if only I could spend more than fifteen minutes viewing the art.

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