Have you ever gone to a famous art museum, excited to see what all the buzz is about only to come away feeling exhausted and bored? Maybe you’re an art student with a love for impressionist painters but when you go to see your favourite works in person you feel overwhelmed and uninspired. Or maybe you’re just someone who wants to learn more about art history or the contemporary art scene but every time you step into a museum you feel out of place and bored. Don’t worry, it’s not you.
We’ve all heard of Zoom fatigue, how hours sitting in front of a screen forcing a smile can drain you, but have you heard the term “museum fatigue”?
Museum fatigue is a result of the layout and designs of museums. Things like lack of windows, hard floors, few seats, and stark walls can all factor into that terrible hangover feeling we get after an hour wandering through galleries. But another major issue with the way we approach art museums is that we simply aren’t meant to look at that many paintings at once.
Most artists, especially historical ones, weren’t concerned with what their paintings would look like in a space collection of thousands. It was important how the worked looked on its own, or in the home of a patron among a few others. When we go from one painting to the next in a gallery, we are essentially overloading our eyes with information.
It’s impossible to take in everything about a painting and then to the same with fifty more, let alone the hundreds housed in the famous art museums everyone flocks too.
So how do we counteract this? Museum fatigue may be a pain, but the easiest solution is to plan before you go. Decide what you want to see ahead of time. Do you like Monet? Curious about Holbein? Want to know what all the hype is about Da Vinci? Or maybe don’t have a specific artist in mind but you’re interested in Renaissance art. Familiarize yourself with what the museum has to offer first so when you get there you have an idea of what you’re going to look at. Luckily most of the large art museums are free to the public so you won’t be wasting money just seeing a few paintings. Don’t force yourself through the entire gallery, seeing a few you’re generally interested in will be far more rewarding that trying to see every single one.
If you don’t have anything you’re specifically interested in, make sure you’re still pacing yourself and keeping your expectations reasonable. Walking in the middle of the room until you spot a painting that interests you can be helpful as you’re not overwhelming yourself with all the detail, you’d see up close. Crowds also tend to congregate close to the paintings so keeping a distance until you’ve found one that piques your interest can be less stressful to manoeuvre.
It may sound silly but treat yourself like a child. Make sure you’re taking breaks, go get something to eat beforehand, if you’re feeling fatigued find a spot to sit down or a quiet area you had relax in for a little while. We’ve all seen how children can get in museums without an activity to focus on and although as adults our attention spans aren’t quite that short it doesn’t mean we should expect ourselves to power through room after room of old paintings or modern sculptures.
