Isn’t it time we admitted that art is hell? You go to one of the world’s great art exhibits looking forward to seeing human creation at its most beautiful and instead you experience human nature at its ugliest.
I am full of solidarity with the staff at the Louvre, who are striking for more pay because of the stress of dealing with 8.3 million visitors a year. Their job is to funnel the equivalent of the population of New York City through a palace built for a few hundred courtiers, past a painting intended for a private home.
They describe their days protecting the Mona Lisa from her fans with words such as “unbearable”, “aggressive” and “dangerous”. Citizens, I know just what they mean. It’s probably small consolation that you are actually being paid to be in the presence of Leonardo’s masterpiece while the rest of the world has to pay for that privilege and queue for half a day to claim it.
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