We have visited art museums in London, Amsterdam, and Paris. I’ve made some sketches as we went along. Yesterday I decided to try to summarize my sketches with a small watercolor painting. This is my tongue-in-cheek experience of art museums.
The Art Museum
The unfortunate truth is that during the tourist season one often looks at the backs of other people’s heads rather than the art. Museums have a difficult task. Their space is too small for the large collections. Therefore, they must hang as many pieces as possible in somewhat crowded fashion to accommodate the demands of the public to see the works. Also, most tourists travel to these oases of art during a few months of the year. Often the result is overcrowding. The National Gallery in London is an exception. For the most part they have large rooms and hang the works well spaced.
For the visitor the better solution is to visit museums when there are fewer visitors. I imagine that the art museums of Europe would offer better viewing in January or February. Perhaps we will try that on a trip when we are not planning on doing a great deal of plein air painting. In the mean time I couldn’t resist having a bit of fun with this painting.
Paul
Travels With Picasso 
I like your watercolor, it is witty and fun, and to the point, and this is why I do not go any more to these monstrous blockbusters that come and go every year. When I was in Italy, I generally turned the issue around first by going at opening time; that did marvel in Venice. Time of day, time of year, can be manipulated by people of leisure like me; space can also be reversed; a number of times I have skipped the first rooms of a museum at opening so as to get a head start; I have also gone to the last room and gone backwards. In the Louvre, I often find myself quite alone is some room that are deserted by visitors whose imagination is not grabbed by what is displayed. Admittedly, these are tricks, but one needs to be tricky.