Night at the Museum

As I try to come up with a concise, eye-catching introductory statement, I’m forced to think about what I truly gained from the Night at the Museum in just a few words. But now that I took a copout route, I don’t have to do that anymore. I will, instead, begin by saying that I like art. I like observing things, anything, and thinking about them. Analyzing things has always been a fun mind game for me. The Night at the Museum was different though; I didn’t just have to think, I had to converse.

I was in a group of people I had never met before and I didn’t know how we’d get along, if things would flow easily. Conversation isn’t always easy. But I soon discovered that conversation about art is. One work of art contains so many conversation topics, from the technical details of the brush strokes and line placements to the greater messages those lines and strokes convey. There’s a history conversation latent in the clothes the subject wears and a psychological one in the expression on her face. Conversation flowed naturally, and that was exciting. Containing thoughts to my head isn’t as fun as letting them flow and bounce off of others’ ideas, each one building on top of another, creating stronger concepts and analyses. Maybe in real life I have very little in common with those five people. But in the museum, those differences aren’t noticed. And if they are, it only enhances our collective observation of the work. Each person looks at the same work of art with a different eye, and allows us to see a different aspect that we couldn’t have seen on our own. That’s why art is beautiful.

I’m trying to think of one work that really stood out to me, but I don’t have one specific one that comes to mind. The forced conversations made each work we discussed stand out in my mind when they hadn’t before. Talking about something really made me just like it better. And I think that’s awesome.

Art makes you think. Museums make you discuss the art that makes you think. By physically speaking out loud with others, a completely new world is open to the observer. And it serves as great bonding when small talk just doesn’t cut it.