It’s easy to get lost in a museum. There are hundreds of works of art spread out across several floors. Some are old; some are recent. They come from many places, from many times, and they use many types of material. The words are all jumbled together, including dates, names, and languages, and you might not know what half of them mean.
A museum is so much more than a place where art is kept. You can find out the history of art by looking at how it’s chosen, arranged, labelled, and presented.
It’s not just a storage space.
Most museums don’t show everything they have.
Curators pick and choose. They select what will go on display and where it will be put. They think about how it relates to other pieces in the gallery. This is known as curating.
Curating matters
Take a painting. Now imagine seeing it alone. Now imagine seeing it with another painting from the same period, and then another, later painting that intentionally breaks from the traditions of the earlier ones. In the second case, you’ll have a much better idea of what’s going on.
The artworks haven’t changed. The story they tell has.
Chronology
Galleries are often arranged chronologically. You walk from one room to the next, from ancient art to medieval, then to the Renaissance, to the baroque, to modern and contemporary.
You can see how the styles evolve.
But it’s not always like this.
Sometimes, chronological order can make art history seem like a straight progression from the ‘old’ to the ‘new’. The truth is more complex than that. Different areas developed at different times, and older forms didn’t necessarily disappear when newer ones appeared.
Geography
European art history is divided into periods such as the Renaissance and Baroque. However, there’s art history around the world. Museums can put objects from different areas in the same room to show how artists in different parts of the world developed different traditions.
How is it made?
When you’re in the gallery, ask yourself: Where was this made? Who made it? What material was used? Who was it made for? What was it used for? These questions might give you clues you wouldn’t get just by looking at the style.
What does the label say?
Museum labels usually give you some basic information: the artist’s name, the title, the date, the materials, and the place of origin. Sometimes they tell you why it was made or what it means.
Don’t read it all
You don’t have to read every label. Take a look at the artwork first. Make your own observations, then see if the label adds something to what you already know, or contradicts it.
What is it made of?
Often, you can learn about art history from what something is made of as well as what it looks like. A painting is made differently from a sculpture, a textile, a ceramic vessel, a manuscript, or a piece of metalwork.
Materials matter
The materials an artist uses can tell you something about where they were from, and when they lived. Pigment, instrument, printmaking processes, photography, industrial materials. All of these have affected what is possible for artists. Technology is thus a critical element of art history.
The way you’re lit changes the game.
Museum lighting is very important.
We want enough light to see the work, but we also need to protect works from fading and damage. The amount of light and where the light is coming from will change the way colors, textures, and details are perceived.
Examine the surface of the work.
What do you notice when you stand in front of a painting? What kinds of marks can you see? Are there brush strokes? Is the paint thick or thin? Is the surface smooth? These details might give you insight into a particular painting’s technique that you can’t see in the photograph.
Museums preserve other information too.
Art objects don’t just stand by themselves. They tell us about the people and culture that created them. And yet, museums have their own histories. Some collections were assembled during periods of colonial expansion and unequal trade, during periods of private collecting, or in other complex ways.
Find out where the objects came from.
As you explore a museum, think not just about who made an object, but how it got there. An object’s provenance (history of ownership) can tell you a lot about its journey.
Today’s museums are changing.
Many museums today are thinking differently about how they display objects. There is growing interest in including multiple voices, highlighting underrepresented artists, incorporating cultural context, and learning more about the history of museum collections.
One work can have many stories.
An object can tell you about the artist who created it, the culture from which it originated, the people who collected it, and the museum that houses it. Learning about these various perspectives makes the museum experience so much richer.
Make the most of a museum trip.
Don’t feel you have to see every room. Instead, choose a few artworks, and spend more time looking at each one.
A method for exploring a work.
With each work of art, ask yourself:
- What do I see?
- What do I describe about the colors, shapes, material, content, etc.?
- Why do I think the artist chose those things?
- What was going on when the work was created?
- How does it compare to other works?
- How did I feel after I learned more about this work?
This method of looking can turn even a short visit to a museum into a valuable educational experience.
In conclusion.
Museums do not simply show us art history; they shape our view of art history. The way they organize galleries, the objects they select, the labels they write, the lighting they use, and the context they provide affect the way we look and what we notice and remember. The next time you go to a museum, slow down. Choose one artwork that catches your eye, and spend a few minutes with it before moving on. You might find that taking the time to understand one artwork well is better than rushing through a whole gallery.