Visiting an art gallery always goes the same way for me. I look at one artwork, then the next, and then another. What was the first one again? Was it a farm? Who knows? After about 15 minutes, I have had enough. By the time I reach the gift shop, I want to lie face down on the floor and sleep. There are simply too many paintings.
Yet I like art. I grew up drawing and painting, studied art at school and still paint today. I keep hoping that a gallery visit will move me. Instead, I am usually overwhelmed by how much is on the walls.
Major museums make this worse. The National Gallery holds more than 2,400 works, while the Louvre displays around 35,000 artworks. When I visited the Met in New York, I got lost in room after room and left early. I do not remember a single artwork.
One study found that visitors spent an average of just 27 seconds looking at each artwork. At that speed, an hour in a gallery could mean seeing more than 130 pieces. No wonder I remember only a handful, most of which were already famous.
The overload shapes the whole experience. My lower back begins to hurt from standing and peering because comfortable seats are rare. I shuffle forward, taking bad photos that I will not see again until I need to clear my cloud storage. If I still have some energy, I point to an unflattering figure in a portrait and tell my companion, "That's you."
I am not alone. Researchers have studied "museum fatigue" since at least the 1920s. It comes not only from the number and similarity of the exhibits, but also from the atmosphere. Visitors are expected to study every piece in silence, as though serious attention were the only way to appreciate culture.
I watch other people walk slowly with their hands behind their backs, looking sombre and thoughtful. Meanwhile, the 10-year-old inside me wants to run through the rooms and break every rule. Once enough time has passed, I suggest going to the pub.
My solution is simple: make the visit shorter and look at less. If I could curate the National Gallery, how much art would I hang? The fewer works, the better. I would rather visit a gallery to see one painting than pass quickly in front of thousands.