Hello and Happy Saturday!
I love to visit museums and while living in Manhattan I saw the most amazing art exhibits at the MET, MOMA (my favorite museum in New York City by far), the New Museum, The Whitney and the Guggenheim to just name a few. Strolling around museums makes me happy and also makes me feel like diving into something special and beautiful. To absorb the art and discover new artists, see new paintings and learn about art is definitely one of my favorite things to do. Is there anything better than reading the New York Times Art Section on a Saturday morning? Maybe reading it in bed while enjoying breakfast at said location. Today I read this amazing article on Pop Art International and browsed through the NYTimes Archives for a while and found an article from 2014 on The Art of Slowing Down in a Museum which suggested, to rather “enjoy a museum than conquering it”.
“When you go to the library,” said James O. Pawelski, the director of education for the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, “you don’t walk along the shelves looking at the spines of the books and on your way out tweet to your friends, ‘I read 100 books today!’” Yet that’s essentially how many people experience a museum…
Professor Pawelski…asks [his students] to spend at least 20 minutes in front of a single painting that speaks to them in some way. Twenty minutes these days is what three hours used to be, he noted. “But what happens, of course, is you actually begin to be able to see what you’re looking at,” he said…
For instance, if you have an hour he suggests wandering for 30 minutes, and then spending the next half-hour with a single compelling painting…
Professor Pawelski said it’s still a mystery why viewing art in this deliberately contemplative manner can increase well-being or what he calls flourishing…He theorized, however, that there is a connection to research on meditation and its beneficial biological effects. In a museum, though, you’re not just focusing on your breath, he said. “You’re focusing on the work of art.”
What do you think about this? Any thoughts? I never thought about approaching a museum like this. Read the entire article here. While I am still in Coburg I want to visit the Coburger Landesbibliothek and the current exhibit as well as the Glasmuseum in Rödental. Let’s see how it goes.
