The entrance hall alone makes the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City a worthwhile visit.

With its soaring ceilings and marble floors, Kirkwood Hall is a work of architectural grandeur. Stately Corinthian columns topped with gilded acanthus crowns line the room. Tapestries depicting scenes from Greek mythology by Flemish artist Jan Leyniers adorn the limestone walls. 

I first visited the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art a few months after moving to Kansas City, motivated to explore new places and get acquainted with the city. The free admission inspired repeat visits, some lasting several hours and others quite brief.

These visits offered learning, but they also represented a diversion, an adventure, and an escape. 

The approach didn’t have to be concerted or methodical to make it valuable.

Why visit an art museum?

Art museums play a vital role in curating and preserving artistic and cultural heritage. Their collections and informational plaques provide biographies, historical context, and critical detail, offering rich opportunities for intellectual engagement and learning. 

But art museums are also, simply, a place to be

Art museums are physical spaces in the midst of the many virtual spaces that compete for our attention. 

They can be experienced in much the same way a person might experience stepping into a café or a shop: as places to wander around and explore. Rather than requiring strenuous effort or an agenda, they may be approached with openness and curiosity. 

Museums with free admission, such as the Nelson Atkins, foster this open-ended approach. Free access lifts the pressure one might otherwise feel to pack in as much as possible. Particularly for parents who wish to go with children, a visit of an hour or less is more realistic than trying to get your money’s worth with a longer stay. 

Because art testifies to the great breadth and range of human experience, it stands to reason that it should be accessible to all. 

Why (re)visit an art museum?

Art museums may be seen as an elite pastime or a tourist attraction. While you might schedule a visit to the Uffizi or the MET as part of a travel itinerary, we more typically spend our leisure time at a movie theater, sports event, or new restaurant. 

It’s time to reconceptualize the role that a local museum can play in one’s life as a regular rather than occasional activity:

Museums are community spaces

The idea of art being tied to public spaces is as old as the forum in Rome, where people would congregate to conduct political and social affairs. The forum was a community focal point, yet it was not a place of transaction alone; the forum bore an aesthetic quality where architecture and monuments could be admired and enjoyed. 

Today, a visit to a museum may involve unexpected conversation, but direct interaction is not necessary to experience the enjoyment of simply being amidst people in a shared space. People can use museum space to study, sketch, and gaze. Moreover, museums offer classes, gardens, and event spaces that facilitate interaction and community.

Many museums also offer dining options for their patrons where you can enjoy a meal surrounded by art. The Rozzelle Court Restaurant at the Nelson Atkins offers a fresh and inviting lunch menu including a variety of soups, sandwiches, and salads as well as desserts like lemon thyme olive oil cake. Wrought iron cafe tables are scattered throughout the atrium, where diners can enjoy their meals. The space is anchored by a stunning and immense center fountain. Columns and arches border the space in the style of a 15th-century Italian courtyard. 

Museums have the potential to evoke awe

Albert Einstein said, “He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.” 

Experiences of awe shift attention away from ourselves, moving us outside of our own egocentric perspective. These experiences ground us in the present moment and can relieve stress and encourage empathy.

The Gates of Paradise, the 17-foot-tall, gilded doors in the Bloch entrance, is an example of a magnificent work of art in the Nelson Atkins that commands awe. The doors are casts of Lorenzo Ghiberti’s intricately carved panels located on the east façade of the Baptistry in the Duomo, in Florence, Italy. There are ten panels total, each depicting a scene from the Old Testament. 

Brought to the Nelson Atkins in 2017, the doors tower over an observer and their exquisite detail truly is awe inspiring. This sort of transcendent, immersive experience cannot be replicated by way of an electronic device; it arises from direct engagement of the senses in real life experience. 

How to find free museums?

WhichMuseum cites 200 museums in the United States that can be accessed free of charge, including the Nelson Atkins and another personal favorite, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. It is well worth the effort to visit (and revisit) these institutions, open to whatever might capture attention.
 

Jessica has lived in four states across the Northeast and Midwest. She has appreciated the opportunity to experience local culture in various regions of the U.S. and particularly enjoys the history and charm of coastal New England. Jessica loves to explore art museums, hiking trails, and farmer’s markets, and has a passion for French culture and cuisine, an interest that emerged during a study abroad experience in Grenoble, France. While traveling abroad is always fun, she believes you need not go far from home to find experiences that are enriching and inspiring.  

All photos courtesy and copyright Jessica Kimmell, published with permission