If you didn't go to an art museum when you were a child, you may not know how fun they can be. You may feel like you don't belong. But art museums are for everyone including you! Art exhibits and museum collections have as much variety as people have. There is old art, new art, pretty art, art that makes us think or is even shocking. Anything that people experience turns up in art: love, war, eating, sports, nature, faith, anything at all.



Most museums are either free or have free days when you can go and enjoy the art. Commercial galleries are also free. Many places offer free lectures, either by an artist whose work is on display, or by individuals who are very knowledgeable in a particular collection on display. Very large and special traveling shows often require an admission charge to help pay for the cost of borrowing and transporting the work from another museum.

When you visit a museum, don't feel like you have to look at each piece or give each piece you do see the same amount of time. You don't have to like all the art on display. It can be very enjoyable though, to have a piece that you don't like, or that doesn't even look like art to you, explained by someone who understands the piece well. You might change your opinion once you understand it. Art is like an exploration. It can take us to places where we've never traveled. Like a good book, art can let us see through someone else's eyes for a short time. Art, even abstract art, has a story or an idea that it is telling. If you don't see the story or what it is about, don't be quick to dismiss it. You may just need the right key to open a whole new door.

At larger museums you can often get a recorded tape tour of pieces on display. The recordings will tell you something of the lives of the artists, what they were trying to show you in particular pieces, and point out interesting tidbits about the techniques used or why it has an effect on the viewer. Art often displays historical events or ideas that were happening in a particular age. This can also be very interesting. Somewhere in the museum, you will find art that expresses your own life and passions.