Avoiding Museum Fatigue: Enjoying Museums Without Feeling Drained

The Summer Rush to Museums

As summer arrives, millions of people embark on a journey to explore the cultural heritage of their cities or chosen vacation destinations. Visiting museums has become one of the most popular activities for those seeking a balance between relaxation, disconnection, and cultural enrichment.

Research has shown that museum visits can enhance quality of life, reduce the risk of mental health issues, decrease feelings of loneliness and isolation, and increase positive emotions. However, many visitors experience a lesser-known yet common phenomenon: museum fatigue.

What is Museum Fatigue?

Have you ever felt an excessive fatigue during a museum visit, forcing you to stop mid-tour after only a few corridors and staircases? The museum café suddenly seems more appealing than ancient Greek sculptures.

Museum fatigue is a physical and mental exhaustion that occurs during museum visits. First described by Benjamin Ives Gilman, conservator of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, in 1916, it marked the beginning of museum visitor studies. Gilman observed that visitors started their tours with enthusiasm but soon lost interest, got distracted easily, or simply glanced over exhibits without paying attention.

This phenomenon results from a combination of factors: long walks, uncomfortable postures while observing artworks in cases or on walls, visual overstimulation, and information overload. These factors, along with summer heat and high tourist traffic, can make museum experiences more draining than enjoyable.

Museums as Physical Activity Spaces

Contrary to appearances, navigating a museum can be physically demanding, depending on one’s physical condition. A medium-sized museum visit may involve walking 1.5 to 3 kilometers.

If your goal is to see everything in a few hours at institutions like the Louvre in Paris, the British Museum in London, or the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, you’d better start training for a half-marathon.

The issue isn’t just the extent of the tour—which includes escalators, ramps, etc.—but also how we navigate it: constant stops, back-and-forth movements, and changing pace. Additionally, visitors spend much time standing, climbing, descending, and making repetitive movements like leaning, turning the neck, or maintaining focus for prolonged periods.

From a physical perspective, museum fatigue also has a mental component. The abundance of elements to focus on, wall texts, and crowded galleries can lead to mental and sensory overstimulation.

Want to receive more articles like this? Subscribe to Suplemento Cultural and get cultural news and a curated selection of the best articles on history, literature, film, art, or music, handpicked by our Culture Editor Claudia Lorenzo.

Despite this, visiting a museum can be seen as a light form of physical activity beneficial for everyone, especially older adults or those with mobility issues, provided it’s well-planned and avoids excesses.

Tips to Avoid Museum Fatigue This Summer

1. Plan your visit: Before starting the tour or even before going to the museum, consult the map and select the exhibits that interest you most. If you don’t know where to go upon arrival, adding decision-making stress will contribute to museum fatigue.
2. Take frequent breaks: Use benches or rest areas to sit, hydrate, and process what you’ve seen. Some museums even offer short tours with strategic breaks.
3. Choose the right time: If possible, visit early in the morning, at noon, or late in the afternoon when there’s less crowding and a calmer atmosphere.
4. Wear comfortable clothing: Proper footwear and light clothing are essential for maintaining comfort throughout the visit.
5. Alternate activity and rest: Combine museum visits with outdoor activities or recreational ones that involve freer movement, like walking in a park or cycling around the city.
6. Less is more: On vacation, the goal is to enjoy and not accumulate. A great experience in one museum is preferable to many rushed, exhausting visits.
7. Don’t try to see everything: In line with the previous recommendation, attempting to view all exhibits in a museum is often impossible. Instead of focusing on every detail, try strolling through the space and stopping at what catches your eye. Remember, there’s no reward for reading every caption or seeing all the Picassos; your visit should be interesting and enjoyable for you.

A Shift in Perspective

Museums are also responding to this reality. When Gilman conducted his study in 1916, he took photographs of visitors showing the effort they had to exert to examine objects on display (kneeling, stretching, balancing, etc.). Today, museums prioritize the visitor’s experience and design exhibition spaces accordingly.

Most museums now consider visitor experience in their design, with strategically placed rest areas and seating. Exhibits are displayed for comfortable viewing, and many offer short tours, mobile apps, guides, etc., allowing visitors to personalize their experience according to their needs and interests. Some even organize physical activities within the museum, like yoga amidst sculptures or guided tours combining art and movement.

In this context, museums transform from passive contemplation spaces into well-being promoters, enhancing their visitors’ physical, mental, and emotional health.

Understanding Museum Fatigue

Visiting museums during vacations is an excellent way to learn, enjoy, and connect with culture. However, it’s also crucial to do so consciously, taking care of your body and respecting your pace.

Recognizing museum fatigue as part of the process allows for a more enjoyable and fulfilling experience, integrating movement and rest as allies of the aesthetic experience. After all, a good journey, like a great exhibition, is measured by how deeply it’s lived and enjoyed, not by how much is seen.

And if you decide to run a Louvre half-marathon in the end, we warned you… Start training now and good luck!