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Don’t Wait for the Louvre

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An ordinary day at the Louvre. Photo Guia Besana for The New York Times

One cloudy afternoon this month, the line to enter the Louvre stretched around the entrance pyramid, across one long courtyard and into the next,” according to yesterday’s New York Times article about the ever increasing crowds at premier art museums. Scenes like that are why we regretfully decided not to revisit the Louvre on our most recent trip to Paris.

The Times focuses mostly on worries that such large crowds may start damaging the artwork. It goes without saying that these crowds also routinely ruin what is supposed to be a peaceful and contemplative experience for visitors. But they don’t have to. There are ways to beat the crowds.

On one hand it’s nice to think that increased museum attendance reflects growing appreciation for art. And maybe that’s part of the story. The other, almost certainly larger, reason for the crowds is an increase in bucket-list tourism. People visit places like the Louvre not necessarily to appreciate great works of art but to check something off a list.

The ever-present hordes amassed in front of the totally unimpressive, but world famous, Mona Lisa is just one indicator of this bucket-list driven tourism. (I wonder if people would still crowd in to photograph the Mona Lisa if they knew it wasn’t especially highly regarded until it became famous by being stolen in 1913?) Meanwhile, the near emptiness of entire “lesser” museums might be explained by the fact that they’re not on anyone’s bucket list.

For art lovers, this is an opportunity.

Japanese Pavilion of Art, LACMA

A nearly empty Japanese Pavilion at the world’s 50th most visited museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art

You don’t  have to move far down the list of the world’s most visited museums to get some breathing room. New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art ranks third by annual attendance (behind the Louvre at number 1 and London’s British Museum at number 2) and yet it receives a whopping third fewer visitors than does the Louvre. But get this, the Met has a permanent collection more than 30 times larger than that of the Louvre. If you’re interested in art, the Met gives you far more bang for your proverbial buck.

Now no one would claim that the Met isn’t crowded, but it’s 30% fewer visitors are spread throughout a building that is three times larger than the Louvre. That’s got to free up some elbow room.

Move further down the list and things empty out more. Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts ranks among the top 100 most visited museums in the world. We went at what was perhaps the worst possible time for crowds. A traveling exhibition of King Tut artifacts drew major interest the day we were there. And while the King Tut exhibit was packed tight, we found the entire rest of the museum completely vacant. Tons of people came all the way to the museum, paid for admission, saw a few Egyptian artifacts, and then totally blew off everything else on display.

Museum of Fine Arts Houston

This is what the 76th most visited museum in the world looks like. Houston’s Museum of Fine Arts.

That’s pretty typical. We’ve probably visited more than two hundred museums over the past couple of years, plenty of which were chock full of masterpieces. For the most part we’ve had them to ourselves.

I even popped into the world’s 27th most visited museum yesterday to see what I’d find. And while Edinburgh’s streets were pretty crowded, the city’s wonderful Scottish National Gallery was mostly empty. 

Edinburgh Museum P1010526

(crowded streets, empty museum)

The amazing thing is that the Scottish National Gallery doesn’t even charge for admission. What else can you do in Edinburgh for free that draws so little attention? It’s quite a contrast to the Louvre where you wait on line for hours and pay for the privilege of squeezing into the building.

Meanwhile, the Gallery’s “busiest” room is nothing like the scene in front of the Mona Lisa. Rather than seeing just one popular portrait, this space holds an impressive collection of Impressionists that includes six Degas, three Gaugins, two Van Goghs, two Rodins, two Seurats, a Cézanne, a Monet and nearly no one to view them. 

A Monet to myself and a Van Gogh of my own.

A Monet to myself and a Van Gogh of my own.

Elsewhere, a famous Rembrandt self-portrait waited for some Mona Lisa type love.

P1010524 P1010525

The best part of these lesser known museums is that they’re everywhere. According to the Washington Post, there are more museums in the U.S. than there are Starbucks and McDonald’s combined; a lot more. That means there’s probably one, or maybe a dozen, right near where you live. There’s almost certainly a handful near your next travel destination.

So by all means, go to the Louvre. It is a spectacular building with a great collection. But if what you’re interested in is seeing amazing art, there really is no reason to wait for the Louvre.



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