In the age of technology, visiting museums and art galleries can seem redundant, even unnecessary. After all, when you can easily search the Internet for thousands upon thousands of reproductions of Starry, Starry Night (or what have you), why bother to trek to whichever museum holds the original piece?

Yet, in John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, he argues that the reproductions we are so accustomed to seeing today take the originals out of their intended context. Before cameras were widely used, works of art could not physically be in two or more places at once, and many were unique to their locations. But as Berger alleges, “the painting travels to the spectator rather than the spectator to the painting” (20). Reproductions of an original no longer make you think of the original as being unique: it is now the original of the reproduction. This, in turn, changes all meaning of the original piece — and the reproductions as well.

Visiting the Museum of Modern Art with Berger’s words in mind certainly changed the way I viewed the works of art on display. Before, I would simply look at a piece, read any captions, maybe make a mental note if I really liked anything about the piece, then move on to the next thing five feet over. Rinse and repeat. No thought required, really.

But with Berger and Ways of Seeing fresh in my mind, I began to see every piece of art from a different perspective. Aside from his commentary on reproductions, he also brings to light what the captions in museums can do to alter a viewer’s perception on a piece: in a way, it can pigeonhole the way viewers see a work of art. Captions, for all the information they give, can undermine free interpretation of art; when you give your perspective, you may also question yourself if it’s not something that it’s in line with what’s on the plaque.

Thus, when walking through the MoMA’s different exhibitions, I not only tried to look at every work without feeling restricted by any side commentary, but also imagined each piece as it was in its original location — perhaps, not in a museum, hung up on a wall or behind a glass case. Maybe not even as a work of art to be viewed publicly and scrutinized, at all. And this new “lens” through which I saw the MoMA and its collections has given me a new appreciation for art. Art cannot simply viewed as just that: art, in a museum, on display for millions of people, who take another photograph (and another, and another) and stroll right on by. Being able to imagine how each piece was intended to be viewed, and recognizing the importance of an original and the difference between viewing a reproduction and “the real thing”, has reshaped the way I see, and enjoy, art.