The art of „Slow Looking“. Focus and attention.

11 seconds

An average museum guest spends just eleven seconds in front of a work of art. This equals to the time you need to take about three breaths. At least, this is the result of a scientific study conducted by the University of Friedrichshafen in 2012. And even if one can assume that individual real people cannot be forced into the averageness of a statistical analysis, this result makes one think. Art deserves “slow looking”.

In fact, we are quickly distracted, and often have the idea of having to complete a „program”, when walking through an exhibition before moving on to the next item on the program. A visit to a museum then quickly turns into some kind of „performance showcase”. On both sides. So many pictures, so little time. The sublimity of the quiet contemplation of the pictures that Johann Joachim Winkelmann brought to the beautiful formula “noble simplicity and quiet grandeur” in the 18th century, has thus probably not been achieved. Somehow „just missing the point”. Which is a poor result. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Slow looking at art

The museum education experts have long since taken on this task. And thus, for example, the London Tate Modern will be presenting a corresponding concept for deceleration. Their proposal comes with the upcoming exhibition (23 January to 6 May 2019) of the French painter Pierre Bonnard. “Slow Looking”. It’s about the slow contemplation of the picture. Incidentally, a magnificent painting on loan from the Von der Heydt Museum in Wuppertal will also be exhibited here. “The Dining Room” from 1925, a true Bonnard classic, with everything in it which this painter stands for.

But back to “Slow Looking”. What does that mean? Fewer pictures, very relaxed hanging, guided tours in small groups that often focus only on two or three works. Even a yin yoga lesson with a subsequent picture show is on offer. Whether with or without yoga, it’s all about focus and concentration, about conscious engagement with a work of art. And then there is suddenly a lot to explore and discover, much more than with the rushed “I know that” look and the stormy „I have seen everything” walk through the halls, with the audio guide in your ear and the short guide under your arm. Checked.

Slowness. Can also be exhausting.

I admit it. Especially the hip “must-see, of course” blockbuster mega-exhibitions have their charm. And if Vienna were a little more “around the corner”, I would have been there for Bruegel. Because the monumental Pieter Bruegel Monoschau in Vienna (just finished) is such a unique experience. And this is ertainly not an exaggeration. More than 90 works, including 28 paintings. Exciting all-time masterpieces that still leave many puzzles unanswered. Because nothing is simple with Bruegel. And of course, all his „greatest hits” are there. All of them! A great temptation, even if the peaceful contemplation of pictures is difficult, not least at such events. Great art, many people, a (too) dense program, and the need to “take everything with you” when you’re already there. Even if this is not possible, and – quite the opposite! – leads to a complete overload of stimuli.

Slow looking. Art Journey in an armchair

In short, there was no educational art trip to Vienna for me. Although there is hardly anything more powerful than the original for the coveted “art moment“. The picture, the light, the colours, and the structure. No reproduction can withstand the original. Yes, that’s right. But nevertheless…I am happy about a great Pieter Bruegel illustrated book!

My book is not a “garden you carry in your pocket”, as the poetic and very true Arabic proverb says. My new book is really much too big and much too heavy for that. But it does lead me into a fascinating world. Very good illustrations, many detailed views, that one can easily follow “into the depth of the pictures”. Slow looking at it’s best.
So, in the recent weeks, I spent my time, whenever possible, exploring Bruegels tower building to Babylon, namely the big (Viennese) picture, whereas his „small“ Babylon picture is also still pending. One thing at a time. There is so much to discover. A winding, complicated building with nested corridors . A rising structure that already breaks through the clouds. Countless workers are working on the countless micro sites of this monumental construction site, around a mountain range, that the tower has almost enclosed. Carts, scaffolding, complicated machines, cranes, winches, tools. The large stone blocks that the workers strike in the foreground become tiny as soon as they fit into the tower.

Slow looking. Bruegel between two book covers

The nice thing about my book: apart from the overall picture, there are always several, very well photographed, detailed views that make it clear how precisely and exactly, how obsessed with detail, Bruegel worked. And yes, even inside the tower, in the darkness of the arcades, busy people can be seen. The longer I look, the more I discover. Bruegel is indeed a master of detail. There are art historians who actually count the number of figures to get a grip on Bruegel’s “hidden object pictures”, for example. You can do it, but you don’t have to.

Much more interesting is the question why Bruegel depicted the world exactly like that. And what his work can tell us today, almost 500 years later. Quasi as a collective consciousness and a repository of human history. By the way, the „art walk” also works digitally. At www.insidebruegel.com you can also view the Viennese pictures in all their details. So, how about a digital art journey? Do very slowly. Enjoy “slow looking”!