How do you get the most from an art gallery visit?

[AllaMova]

I’m calling on help from artists, art teachers and experienced art gallery attendees etc. here.

How do you get the most out of your art gallery visits?

Do you ask yourself certain questions about each piece? Or similar?

I enjoy going to galleries, but it’s very new to me. I love admiring at the art pieces and looking at the brush strokes, but I feel like I could get more out of my visits.

Talk to the staff about the artwork.
Read interpretation text (but remember your own opinion is still valid!)
Take a sketchbook.
Stop and spend time with one artwork.

What do you want to 'get' from a gallery visit? Or think you should get?

What kind of galleries/art are you looking at? Permanent collections in traditional galleries (eg National Gallery), temporary exhibitions, commercial galleries?

Online resources: the gallery itself will probably have information on it's website. If it's a temporary exhibition there will probably be a large-print guide available - it's intended for visitors with limited vision but it's actually useful to read it to get the gist of what's in the exhibition before traipsing round and standing in front of the display boards. Sometimes you find yourself spending more time reading the labels than looking at the paintings - so might as well find somewhere to sit and read the large-print guide instead. Large galleries may well have the large-print guide on their website, probably in the accessibility section, so you can read it before/after your visit too.

In terms of thinking about what's in front of you, there's a broad variety of aspects you could consider but most of which you'd need to learn about outside the gallery.

Subject matter is an obvious one: figurative, portrait, still life, landscape, religious, historical, abstract, style of painting etc. Each could lead you down a path of discovery.

The context in which the painting was made, eg most religious art was produced for devotional purposes (on church altars or private worship at home) and, at the time, wouldn't have been considered 'art' in the way we think of it today, ie hanging on a wall to admire.

And of course the subject matter, so for Christian art recognising the life story of Jesus (eg Annunciation, nativity, crucifixion), biblical stories (woman with a man's severed head might be Judith and Holofernes, or Salome and John the Baptist), and the saints (a woman holding two eyes on a plate will be St Lucy).

There's so much to explore, most of which would mean reading around the subjects. I suggest online or library books, or you could find yourself amassing a personal library of art books (ask me how I know ...). You could start with the history of art, for an overview of the different genres and how they've changed over the centuries. Look at the websites for the big galleries such as the National Gallery and the Tate, as they have a lot of information and educational resources, even if you don't visit those particular galleries.

Ultimately, the thing to 'get' from a gallery visit is to see the works in real life, which will be a completely different experience to seeing reproduced images. Any 'learning' you want to do will mostly need to be done outside the gallery visit.

I find it helpful to choose a small number of pieces that I particularly want to see - obviously I'll notice other things as I walk through the galleries, but it's very easy to get overwhelmed and stop "seeing" anything. So I might choose a theme, or a particular gallery or artist, or maybe even a particular artwork, and then prioritise those...and if you really want to get to understand something in depth then there might be a book in the gallery shop that you could enjoy reading over a cup of tea in the cafe?

You don't need to make a big deal of it, it mightn't even be a very long visit each time, but for me it's about giving yourself the time and headspace to think about and appreciate something, rather than rushing through trying to see too much.

I agree with PP’s any learning on the paintings and artists you usually do outside the visit. What I do when I go to a gallery is either see an exhibition or if it’s a large gallery then pick the areas I’d like to see. Usually same artists but can be new ones.

Last summer though, I went to Tate Britain with my art class and saw works which I wasn’t that familiar with, they weren’t much usual style, but I looked around and sketched some of them.

I actually had an exhibition with other artists in the art class at a gallery and we had info about the artists there, one artist had made a scrapbook with what influenced her which was nice.

Thank you for such a thoughtful response, that is so very helpful. I find myself asking what do I think is happening in each painting, so I guess that’s a start.

I’ve been visiting permanent exhibitions recently, but I have a temporary exhibition booked too (Gwen John.)

I’ll have a look on the museum website as my first point of call. Thank you.

Audio guides - either from
the gallery or downloadable online. You might not use them at all, but they can be great for exploring a particular piece that catches your attention.

Don’t be led by ‘great artists’ or hype - if you really like or dislike something, that’s just as valid as the blurb on the label/art critics/academic views. Doesn’t matter if it’s ‘high’ or ‘low’ art. i have two art history degrees and i have absolutely no time for snobbery in this area! if you have a response to something, it’s doing its job as a piece of art.

read the blurb on the label but feel free to disagree with it - remember art isn’t curated and interpreted in a vacuum. The label might have said something very different 50 years ago and the art itself might have meant something very different to the person who made it.

Compare how being in the presence of the actual artwork makes you feel in comparison to seeing a picture of it. This is especially interesting with sculpture, i find.

don’t force yourself to slog round looking at everything - stop when you’ve had enough and get a coffee/leave for the day and come back another time.

if you find something really speaks to you, make a note or the artist and title so you can learn more about it later. same for genres - if you find yourself drawn to, say, dutch renaissance interior paintings, you can look for
books afterwards (not just about the art, but about the time and place, the icons used, etc as this gives you a great sense of the context).

I do ask myself certain questions about each piece yes, but you don’t have to do that. Some artists I don’t know very well so eg Frans Hal at. the National Gallery and MC Escher at Dulwich Picture Gallery, I knew of them and liked their work but certainly hadn’t seen exhibitions of their work, which I found I liked a lot, so going to the exhibition and then reading up afterwards was great for me.

If you get a chance and you’d like to do so, then go to a place where they exhibit and sell artworks. You do have to pay but there’s such a lot there, subjects, genres and so on. I also find immersing yourself in all forms of art, works well, so you have a rounded perspective on what you like and don’t like. Eg I have a distant relative who weaves and has exhibitions.

I don’t think I’ve ever talked to staff about the artwork at all, though I think one person (staff) spoke to us about it.

also, there are some great free courses on art history available on audible or similar, and i think futurelearn does an online one too. If you want to go deeper, quite a few universities do short courses or evening courses in art history.

better still, find a visual culture nerd like me to go to galleries with 😁i have an ongoing knowledge exchange going on with very musical friend where she takes me to the opera etc and gives me lots of fascinating context, and i take her to galleries and do the same for her. it’s great

Would you like to paint? That can teach you a lot about paint strokes and different mediums and styles.

I’ll have a look into these free courses, thank you.

That’s such a lovely idea.

@AllaMova i’ll stop now but as you can tell, i’m evangelical about people enjoying art without feeling intimidated by the snobby nonsense that it sometimes comes with 😁 the book Annotated Art by robert cumming is a great introduction to looking closely at paintings. It’s a large format book and because it’s so visual, it helps you get your eye used to picking up details. You can get it on amazon or similar very cheaply and lots of the featured paintings are in the national gallery so easy to go and see in real life too.

You could also look up curator talks, guided tours etc at the venue.

What are you trying to achieve from your visits? My (very uneducated) approach is to go into a room/gallery and look around and see which picture immediately appeals to me most and then go and study it to work out why. When I’m with my children we have a secondary objective to pick the picture we’d most like to take home with us. Which isn’t always the same as the first as they can be far too large for the sitting room wall.

Whatever you do, I can recommend not screaming at the exhibits like this poster claimed…

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3178898-DH-embarrassed-by-my-sensitivity

At art exhibitions I find it really beneficial to have an initial look round at all the paintings/exhibits, reading some of the info etc.

And then to go back to the start and do a second, more ‘emotion led’ look round. So basically going back to those paintings that have caught my eye or imagination for whatever reason and spending a few minutes looking and thinking about each one. And maybe thinking a few quite simple questions to myself eg what do I really like about this painting? What emotions does it make me feel?

When my DC we're young, we picked up this book at the National Gallery - 'Tell Me a Picture, by Quentin Blake'. It shows a collection of famous paintings and asks you a series of questions, encouraging you to see the story in the painting. 'What do you think the woman has in her basket', 'what is the young boy hiding', 'where are the young couple going'.

I know can't look at a painting without creating myself a story from it. It makes you see the details plus it's fun to do.

My dad took to me art galleries as a child and was very good at talking to me about the art we saw and making it “alive” for me. He did the same for his grand children. I go to art galleries a lot, but I don’t really have an approach which I think you are asking for. I just enjoy looking at paintings. I enjoy going alone and spend ages looking at just a few paintings, but I am not good at articulating why.

For me, a good visit to an art gallery involves:

Having enough time to really enjoy drinking in the works of art.

Spending longer with my favourites Eg the Wilton Diptych at the National, Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose at Tate Britain.

If it’s summertime, the gallery needs to have good AC!

A lovely café is obviously essential.

Enjoy OP.
Not sure what part of the country you’re in but the Frida Kahlo at the V&A should be brilliant in the coming months. Her works are extremely vivid and spark lots of discussion IMO.

AUDIO GUIDE
People can be idiots about these, but I absolutely love them. Would never have got as much out of the Rothko exhibition in Paris without them

Described how they've decided how to hang them what the artist instructions were, et cetera

Really surprised nobody has mentioned this before

Well, it’s another expense on top of an often expensive ticket. I like the trend to make them free on your phone via a QR code.

I do agree, though. The Emin retrospective at Tate Modern (free audio guide) was definitely enriched by the guide, especially interesting interventions from the curator and TE’s studio helper talking about her painting techniques.

I am from an arts background so I haven't ever thought about it from the perspective of a newcomer. I probably take it for granted as they are my most happy places to be.

I would suggest reading the blurb on the wall that introduces the exhibition or the piece. Often these are printed.

You could look up a bit about the artist in advance if it's a particular show.

Tate gallery used to do short videos that were great and I'm sure Matthew Collings did some though perhaps I am misremembering. This kind of thing... https://youtube.com/@tate?si=c-NwHOCvtJhbql2D

Though just enjoy it...! I think you can ask yourself questions like what do you think the artist is trying to communicate but it's also about how it makes you feel. Art is a dialogue.

My absolute favourite art space is the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. They do a wonderful job of making it feel for everyone without ever dumbing down plus beautiful grounds and a great café. Cannot recommend it enough.

Don’t expect to be able to spend a long time on the visit because it can be tiring: both the standing and the concentration.

It is perfectly fine to go in to see a particular picture and then leave: many do

Ask yourself which paintings and which particular painting appeals to you and why

With each painting ask the basics and do this before you read the title and the artist

Which is the darkest area of the painting and which is the lightest.
What colours has the artist used. Are they realistic or has the artist used a limited palette of colours.
Where does the artist want you to look and how is the painting composed to lead you to that area
What incidental details has the artist included that tell you something about the period that the paintings was painted? All artists include information that they take for granted but might be unusual for us now, such as flowers, clothing, crockery
Do you like this painting and can you work out why
If you don’t like it, why don’t you like it?
Have a think about the design of the painting- look at imaginary lines between different points in the painting that show you the design of the painting

Now read the information- do you agree with any commentary? Sometimes the supposed insights are drivel. What do you think?

Then go for a coffee

There are several biographies of GJ (Sue Roe and Alicia Foster’s ones are what come to mind, but others exist, and she also features in biographies of her famous brother and famous lover, Rodin). Even reading the Wiki entry or some newspaper articles online would give you some context for her surprising life and her work, and her subjects, her art education, influences, later Catholicism and reclusiveness etc — I just saw the Whistler show at Tate Britain, and you can see the influence of his work. (She studied with him in Paris). She’s still far too often seen as the crazy hermit cat lady of British art, in contrast to her brother the enfant terrible Augustus, who was massively famous in his lifetime, but whose reputation has been eclipsed by hers to an extent, but I think she’s a profound genius.

I’m going to get to the show, too but not till it’s in Edinburgh.