Museum People Watching

Time lapse drawing of people standing in front of me at Monet's Water Lilies

Throughout this trip, I’ve been able to view and appreciate so many amazing pieces of art.  Unfortunately, so have a lot of other people and they do it right in front of my face.  Some museum visitors, especially those on an audio tour, have a tendency to walk right in front you viewing, drawing, or taking a picture of a piece, and stand.  Most of the time it’s not even at the appropriate distance to view the work or it’s details.  It’s a strange in between where you’re not getting the full picture but you’re not seeing any artist marks.  This provides a good opportunity for people watching.

The constant mob in front of the Mona Lisa

Not looking at the piece, but right in front of it

Crowded view of the Hall of Mirrors

Seeing people interact with the work is really interesting.  At Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe, there was a woman who came with an audio tour guide group that was clearly viewing the piece, and sat down on the bench.  Normally, that would be ideal, but there was a swarm of people in front of the work and the piece wasn’t visible.  At one point in time, she started texting and looking at other pieces in the room.  At l'Orangerie, on several occasions, people came in, stood right in front of our group sitting on the benches viewing Monet’s Water Lilies, and whipped out city or museum maps, as if walking into the room for a brief second gives the full experience.  Of course there were many other people actually interacting with the work.  Some people had conversations about it, others just sat quietly and observed.