I have recently returned from a short trip to Florence and Bologna, where I spent considerable time in art galleries and museums I have always wanted to visit, the world-renowned Uffizi Gallery and the Galleria Accademia among them.
At the Uffizi, I had the privilege of viewing many iconic paintings including Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, DaVinci’s The Annunciation, Gentileschi’s Judith Beheading Holofernes, Caravaggio’s Sacrifice of Isaac, and countless others.
Although it was immensely pleasing to see these works up close and in person (assuming that the works on display are genuine and not replicas), I could not shake the feeling that I had not really “seen” the paintings. If anything, I had merely looked at them. Yet, that is all the world’s most notable art galleries offer -- the chance to look with very little space for study or contemplation.
If I stood in one place for too long, I inevitably ended up in someone’s way or getting gently pushed along with the current of the crowds that flow through the space like meandering rivers. Either that or my thoughts started tugging me toward the next must-see painting in the adjacent room while my eyes were still fixated on the must-see painting before me.
And then there is the matter of masterpiece overload or drowning in a veritable art deluge. So many paintings in one place at one time are simply too much for my mind, heart, and spirit to assimilate.
Considering the above, I now regard visits to art galleries as nothing more than opportunities to “see” great works — the chance to acknowledge that you “have been there and seen that.” The seeing part comes much later for me, usually at my desk in the familiar comfort of my study.
Note added: The one exception for me was Michelangelo's David in the Galleria Accademia, which is exhibited so masterfully that it is difficult to imagine "seeing it" anywhere else (even though it was originally supposed to be on the roofline of a cathedral)!
At the Uffizi, I had the privilege of viewing many iconic paintings including Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, DaVinci’s The Annunciation, Gentileschi’s Judith Beheading Holofernes, Caravaggio’s Sacrifice of Isaac, and countless others.
Although it was immensely pleasing to see these works up close and in person (assuming that the works on display are genuine and not replicas), I could not shake the feeling that I had not really “seen” the paintings. If anything, I had merely looked at them. Yet, that is all the world’s most notable art galleries offer -- the chance to look with very little space for study or contemplation.
If I stood in one place for too long, I inevitably ended up in someone’s way or getting gently pushed along with the current of the crowds that flow through the space like meandering rivers. Either that or my thoughts started tugging me toward the next must-see painting in the adjacent room while my eyes were still fixated on the must-see painting before me.
And then there is the matter of masterpiece overload or drowning in a veritable art deluge. So many paintings in one place at one time are simply too much for my mind, heart, and spirit to assimilate.
Considering the above, I now regard visits to art galleries as nothing more than opportunities to “see” great works — the chance to acknowledge that you “have been there and seen that.” The seeing part comes much later for me, usually at my desk in the familiar comfort of my study.
Note added: The one exception for me was Michelangelo's David in the Galleria Accademia, which is exhibited so masterfully that it is difficult to imagine "seeing it" anywhere else (even though it was originally supposed to be on the roofline of a cathedral)!
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