How to see visual art

These eight suggestions for seeing art seem obvious, but I have never seen them anywhere, ever. Any one of these suggestions will help: you don't need to remember and follow them all. Here they are.

1. Find a good work of art that interests you. You will have to look and pick and choose. The best place to start is in a museum, where you are more likely to find some works that have lasting value. You can sometimes find good work in galleries. You can find hundreds of works in books and on-line: these are convenient, but they will always distort the work's size and lighting. If at all possible, find an actual work that you are interested in an want to spend time with.

2. Get comfortable. Looking at art in a refined activity that requires time and attention, and being uncomfortable makes this more difficult. If you're not comfortable standing, sit down if that's possible. If you're cold, hungry, or sleepy . . . you get the idea.

3. Slow down. Speed is the enemy. Attention and patience are essential. You can notice and reject a work in a matter of seconds, but you cannot really see something if you're in a hurry.

4. Relax. There is no need for tension. There is no need to make anything happen. There is no finish line for this activity. Let your eyes rest on the object. It does not require tension or effort for your eyes to do their work: let your body and mind, comfortable and slow, rest in the background.

5. Reduce external distractions: noise [especially music], talking, visual clutter, lectures about art, and so on. This may be difficult, but museums and galleries are sometimes empty and quiet.

6. Reduce internal distractions: thoughts, ideas, comparisons, art history, information about the artist

. . . all the stuff that goes on in our heads. Everything we know about a work of art is a distraction, however interesting it may be. If we could begin by knowing nothing, then all we would be able to do is to see what is there, which is exactly what matters.

7. Stick around. Don't rush away. Don't distract yourself by thinking about the next thing you plan to do. The longer you stay, the more possible it will be to see what's there. The work isn't going anywhere: its permanence and unchanging character suggest the possibility of staying in place, right where you are.

8. Come back. It takes time to be affected by any significant work of art. Think: War and Peace. When you find a work that begins to hold your interest, plan to return again and again, for as many times, over as many years, as you find worthwhile. Perhaps memorize it. Let it become a significant part of the world.

An exercise. Find a work of art you are interested in. If you don't know who the artist is, don't find out. Don't listen to a recorded talk. Don't try to see a bunch of other stuff. Try to forget anything you know about the work and anything else you know. Forget what you're planning to do next. Don't pay attention to your thoughts. Forget who you are and where you are. Look at lines, planes, mass, and color. Look at whatever is there. Let your eyes do the work. While your eyes are doing the work, you can relax. No need to figure anything out. No need to do anything. Get your eyes aimed t the work and drop the reins. Pay relaxed attention for s long as you want to, and go home. One thing, really seen, is enough.