The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA), established in 1903 and now located in the city’s Arts District, serves as a fairly traditional encyclopedic arts museum (“About”). DMA’s permanent collection presents a vast array of art across the globe and across time, and its temporary exhibitions also draw from international art historical influences. While the museum’s collection and exhibitions are worthy of a visit, the architecture of the museum makes it difficult to orient yourself and navigate to the galleries you wish to enjoy. Within the museum’s four floors of gallery space, art is grouped by region rather than chronology, with seemingly little connecting the categories displayed on each floor except for geographical proximity. The physical layout of the museum adds to the disjointedness of the art historical experience, as certain floors are inaccessible from certain areas of the museum. This disorients the visitor’s sense of art historical time and place and makes some collections feel out of reach.
The museum’s elevators are the first contributor to this disorientation. When entering the museum from the parking garage it is easy to bypass the first set of elevators that lead to the third and fourth floors (Museum Map). As you venture further into the museum, the second set of elevators reaching the second and third floors are more obvious (Museum Map). While the elevators do overlap on the third floor, the museum’s intended path through these galleries to the relevant elevator is not immediately clear, even with a map in hand. The stairs from the ground level throughway do not clarify the confusion caused by the elevators. Just as the elevators lead to differing floors, the stairs also bypass certain floors. As a visitor on the ground floor, this is not visually clear, as each floor is visible through a set of windows, making all galleries appear accessible via stair, though only the third and fourth floors are.
DMA’s disorienting levels of access hamper the visitor’s full experience of the museum, and in some ways prevent access to certain galleries, even if this prevention is not absolute. The intention behind the museum’s confusing layout is unknown, but as a visitor, it contributes to a sense of disunification. As a seasoned museum-goer, I am willing to work through the confusion to experience each gallery, but many visitors may view the confusion as a blocker, opting instead to bypass those galleries that are not easily accessible.
Works Cited
“About.” Dallas Museum of Art, https://dma.org/about. Accessed 5 Sept 2022.
Museum Map. Dallas Museum of Art, 2022.
Originally written September 2022.
Art with an Opinion 