Free museums

Last weekend I was in Baltimore and stopped by the Baltimore Museum of Art for lunch and to take peak at their Cone Collection (an amazing collection of Matisses, Cézannes, Gauguins, and Picassos).

I had forgotten that the BMA recently instituted a free-admission policy and amused the folks at the reception desk by presenting my Americian Association of Museums card and requesting free admission.

I was really struck by how nice it is that the BMA has free admission. In terms of cost to me, it makes little difference (with the AAM card I can get myself, and usually 2-4 guests, free admission to most museums)... even so, I found the experience all the more pleasant. Their entrance to the museum seems much more inviting--it's no longer intended to keep people from entering the museum (unless they pay).

When I first went to Europe, in my early twenties, I was surprised that their museums had an admission fee (at the time it seemed inexcusably rapacious to me). I had lived in D.C. off and on for many years and didn't realize that the Smithsonian's free admission was unusual.

I think that any museum that costs a family more than a movie matinée needs to rethink its mission.