Not too long ago, my friend mentioned that she had recently visited a museum that did not provide any wall texts or labels, and she felt a bit lost without them. It’s actually not uncommon for museums to omit labels, and even those that provide them don’t do so in every language. Plus, not every label is all that helpful anyway, so it seemed like a good idea to give some advice for what to do in this situation.
The Labels Situation
As I’ve mentioned before, relying too heavily on wall texts isn’t usually the best strategy. Although they can provide valuable information to enhance your experience, they can also distract you from having your own personal interactions with the art. Still, it’s understandable to feel disoriented without them, especially since nobody can be equally familiar with every possible kind of art. You could turn to a museum app or guided tour, but you can also channel your inner detective and use every piece of information, observation, and deductive reasoning available to you to draw your own conclusions.
Here are three easy ways to make sense of art totally on your own, without any wall texts to help you. All of these tips come from The Art Museum Insider, a handbook that teaches you to understand art by learning to think like an art historian.
Tip #1: Look Closely and Analyze What You See
You don’t need a label or tour guide to get tons of visual information just by looking at an artwork. How much you can discover this way is limited only by how much time and attention you’re willing to spend. It can sometimes be easier to look closely at art when there are no texts to distract you, which is a big reason why some museums choose not to provide them in the first place. While of course you can pay attention to the subject matter and think about what it might mean, also try to notice other things, like the use of color, line, and form, the materials and scale of the artwork, and the composition (how everything is put together).
Pro tip: Remember that everything in an artwork is the artist’s intentional choice and is intended to have create an effect for the viewers. Think about what choices the artist made and how they impact your experience as a viewer.
Tip #2: Consider what you already know
What do you already know about the time, place, or culture of its creation, the subject matter, artist, art historical style, or any other related factors? (Even if there’s no label, framed artworks like paintings and drawings sometimes have little plaques on their frames that mention the artist and title.) Clearly, you can’t always count on knowing much – or much that’s accurate – about those things in every situation, but you can use anything you have to work with. Just remember that what we think we know about culture and history isn’t always accurate – or at least it’s not the whole story.
Also, call to mind any other visual images this artwork reminds you of. These could be other artworks, but it could also be memes, movie sets, furnishings – anything, really. Does that shed any light? When faced with something new, it can be tempting to get caught up in what’s different, but it’s actually more helpful for you to focus on the aspects that are somewhat familiar.
Pro tip: Sources of information you can use in interpreting art might include what you learned in school, books you’ve read, documentaries you’ve watched, your prior experiences in travel or museums, or even just what you’ve picked up from popular culture.
Tip #3: Take advantage of context
Use any and all context clues the museum provides for you. This may be as simple as your geographic location, the title above the doorway of the section you’re visiting, a little bit of text on the museum map, or even the exhibition design. But mostly, it’ll be other art.
Very few artworks appear all by themselves in museums; instead, intentional groupings of related artworks are usually displayed together in the same or nearby galleries. Notice patterns – similarities, differences, themes, variations on themes – that emerge within artworks you see juxtaposed with each other. What isn’t so clear when looking at a single artwork will often become much more obvious when you see it recur. What conclusions can you draw when you consider the entire group of artworks together, rather than each one in isolation?
Pro tip: Some of art’s most interesting features show up best when you compare them with other artworks – whether the next object over or one you remember seeing in the past. Think about how what you see relates to or differs from other artworks with commonalities like shared subject matter or location in the same display case.
Conclusion
I know it’s disconcerting when you’re counting on textual interpretations that fall short, but you aren’t powerless to evaluate art for yourself. Once you embrace the situation and start to observe for yourself, not having tons of reading to do in front of each artwork can actually be quite liberating. And you might be surprised by how quickly the unfamiliar can start to feel like old friends.
If these tips were helpful to you, get your copy of The Art Museum Insider today for more about all these topics and to learn to approach art with confidence.
Learn to think like an art historian.

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