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One Entity writer explains why she always tries to visit local art museums.

If you have ever taken a trip with family or friends, you have probably been dragged to tourist attractions such as museums or statehouses in order to learn more about the culture and history imbued in the location you’re visiting. If you travel to Washington D.C., for example, you will most likely pay pilgrimage to the Smithsonian museums or the Lincoln Memorial.

Despite this, visiting art museums is often not met with the same level of urgency or excitement as landmark establishments. Men and women are typically more enchanted with beautiful monuments such as the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. But just as the White House is to D.C. and the Taj Mahal is to India, art museums should be on our list of attractions when we travel.

Art, when understood and appreciated is just as fascinating as the majestic landmarks tourists travel to see. But sometimes, it takes a while to realize that. Truthfully, I, myself, did not develop an interest in art until my freshman year of college. That year, I took a set design class where my professor described art as a “visual metaphor.” When we were instructed to create our own “visual metaphors,” I began to look at artistic works with a more willing eye.

Before then, I had always thought of art – especially modern art – as lacking and simple. I was one of those people who looked at an Ellsworth Kelly painting and scoffed, “I could do that.” I also didn’t bother reading the information at the side of the paintings that revealed the process and message of the pieces, thus disregarding any cues to help me understand and appreciate the art and artists I was so quick to dismiss. If I looked at the piece and I didn’t get it, that was that. The endeavor to understand art typically ended at my lack of comprehension and willingness to learn.

But after my set design class, I started to think about art museums on a larger scale.

Typically, going to art museums is only regarded as an necessary activity when popular works such as the “Mona Lisa” or “The Scream” are featured. But, by disregarding art museums and galleries that don’t include these famous works, we fail to appreciate works by artists who deserve similar recognition and merit as Leonardo da Vinci and Edvard Munch.

When you skip the art museum trip, you miss out on the opportunity to fully experience the location’s culture. Local art museums and galleries provide a sense of cultural familiarity with the area in which you travel. For instance, in February my roommate and I traveled to Montréal for a three-day vacation. Inundated with the possibilities of attractions we could see, I made it non-negotiable that we visit le Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal (the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts).

Although one of the reasons for my desire to visit the museum was to see Céleste Boursier-Mougenot’s installation titled, “From Here to Ear,” which featured Zebra Finches playing electric guitars, I also wanted to discover Montréal in a way that I couldn’t do so by hitting up the Gay Village on a Friday night or eating servings of poutine with a pint of beer.

The museum, equipped with many pieces by Montréal local artists, truly gave me a different side of the city I was trying to get to know. Sure, the nightlife and cuisine may be an integral part of one’s culture, but the art and historical stories are under-appreciated. When I looked at the artwork from different periods of Montréal, I was able to experience detailed visual accounts of important historical events and values myself. With the artwork, I was able to see the city through the eyes and in the mind of those who lived in it.

Art and museums are often under-appreciated because they are deemed “boring” or “uninteresting.” But ask yourself: how much can you really learn about Thomas Jefferson by visiting Monticello? Did you know that Jefferson wrote journals, owned slaves and was rich? Did you know he spent 40 years continually redesigning and renovating his home?

These are all facts you could learn in a museum; you could learn about how he thought and what his personality was like by digging deeper into his preserved journals and letters. In museums and galleries, you can read about an entire era, ask the curators historically questions and see the art that will show you unique perspectives and emotions from people who lived in that period.

So, the next time you travel, search for and visit an art museum or a local gallery. Art has so much to say about the history and culture of an area and it provides a clearer, more personal and relatable image of a period than taking pictures with landmarks can.

Even if you say that art isn’t your “thing” right now, that could always change. Art wasn’t “my thing” either. But, visiting art museums and galleries has nurtured an interest in art that I didn’t possess before; I believe the same experience can happen to anyone.

Edited by Ellena Kilgallon
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