Yet another “trending” museum hashtag day on Twitter – #MusMem – people’s favorite museum memories.
I felt compelled to contribute mine this time:
It’s funny how the small things will cement your feelings about museums when you’re a small kid. I’m not sure how I learned about that button originally or how it got passed around in kid circles, but it felt like I possesed some kind of secret knowledge! I’m guessing the button was really intended for docents to use since it was inside the plane of the diorama and you have to reach over the retaining wall to activate it. It was really cool to return to the Milwaukee Public Museum a few years ago and find out it was still there and still worked.
I copied a few other’s responses. Two of the most common themes seem to be getting scared as a child and being moved to tears as an adult. I have to admit I’ve been moved to tears once as well. It was a crazy experience….it happened when I saw Michelangelo’s paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. They were just so much more vibrant and lower (larger) than I had ever imagined. When you see it in books, the figures are so small and it looks like the chapel ceiling must be quite high…but I think they just have to do that to fit the entire piece in a regular two-page book spread. In real life it felt like I could almost reach up and touch the intensely colored figures looming over me. It was overwhelming to take it all in and just couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. I’ve never had a piece of art have that effect on me before to that extreme.
