Art and Museums

Museums institutionalize art and help it to develop a hierarchy. Most people think this is negative for art, but this is not the case. Museums provide the medium for which artists interact with the general population.

Museums create a structuring of art. In order for an artist to become known, their work must be placed in a museum. For this to happen, the artist must accept the role of the institution of art. Art is thus "formalized" such as any other disciplines criteria for working. The artist is forced to work within the community to become accepted. Art that is displayed in a museum is labeled as "good" art. While that which is not accepted is thrown out. In the age of modern art, this ensures that the quality of art is continually thought provoking or particularly germane to the art world in some way. If we did not have the formal structures of art, anyone and almost everyone would attempt to cash in on being an artist. True art would thus become indistinguishable in a flooded market. Art curators are also more apt to be better judges of good art than the average personal due to their formal education.

By displaying art in museums, a relationship between the viewer and the artist is evoked. We go to museums not only to see art but rather to consume it. The museum gives the artist a "meeting place" or an institution where this happens, just as sports stadiums allow sports to be played. Museums, for the general viewing public and not the artists themselves, is merely a housing place for art. The museum staff also creates an atmosphere by the set up of rooms. By putting similar or different pieces in the same room or many paintings of the same artist, the public is able to gain more perspective. This arrangement allows the public to consider art from differing perspectives, ultimately changing the meaning of the painting.