Books are Art Museums


We park at the St. Louis Art Museum when we go the St. Louis Zoo because the parking is close and either free or just $15. We took the kids to the museum last year, but mostly we just use the parking.

On our last trip, we needed a bathroom on the way out and went in the front door thinking there would be one close by. Instead, we had to trek through the museum to find the bathroom in the new wing of the museum. While we were wandering, we passed a few things of some skill, but we mostly passed lots of trashy art. The rear end of a Ford Crown Victoria with spray paint on it. A pile of shoes. According to my wife, the museum used to have a huge Monet hanging. We didn't see it last time we went. We saw some really good things mixed in with ridiculousness. I'm not sure what the curator is after right now. Don't get me started on the Milwaukee Art Museum. 

With visual art, we are at the mercy of our local museum's budget and curator. If they have money and taste, then the museum is good. If not, then no one living near there gets to see the Monet because it's in storage. 

While reading War and Peace, it occurred to me that books and written words are art museums that everyone can go to. You don't have to depend of the budget and sense of a museum director. 

If you have a used bookstore or eBay account, you can get the 50 greatest novels ever written and put them on the shelf in your bedroom. You can have your own art museum when you are 15 and fill it with the best stuff. 

Check the book sale at your local library and you get the greatest poems ever written to put on your bedside table. You will have the world's greatest artists over for tea whenever you want.

Maybe you just want to borrow a few pieces from your library to see if you like Southern writers, South African Apartheid literature, Greek tragedies, or award-winning picture books. You can find what art you like and surround yourself with the very best.

Jane Austen won't be found in storage if you come to my museum.

*photo generated with Canva Magic Media ai photo generator.

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