Art, Enchantment, Museum and a Three year old...

Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.

Pro and I with Van Gogh's Portrait of a Peasant (Norton Simon Museum)

The ongoing debate concerning museums and how to engage viewers reminds me of a Punch cartoon depicting a Victorian working-class couple's dilemma of what to do on a Sunday - The Sunday Question: The Public-House; or The House for the Public? I love this cartoon not only for its revelation of a time when going to a museum was the alternative to drinking at the pub on Sunday but that museums were thought of as a 'House for the Public.'  There have been many articles circulating in social media lately on the subject of the museum experience and in order to avoid being redundant, for those who have not seen them all by now, I would like to refer you to an excellent post by Alli Burness in Museum in a Bottle which includes a succinct recap of all the media frenzy over the future of museums and public engagement. I take a very personal interest in all of this because museums have always been my places of refuge, where I could make sense of the world by viewing magnificent expressions of the human experience. It is strange that even an existential experience is open to the criticism and censure of others.  Of course everybody has an opinion but what I find really baffling is the critique of how people should experience art - the conversation covers a wide spectrum from lamenting the good old times when viewers would contemplate a work of art in quiet dignity, to a tantrum of an opinion piece requesting more fun activities similar to the ones available for kids and some museum professionals ready to pounce on anyone seen taking a picture, screaming "Off with her head!"