Appreciating Art and the Chance to Compare

While I understand the problems some might have with the new art museum’s architecture, I like the fact that the Princeton University Art Museum is taking an encyclopedic approach in the first place. I am a docent with the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida — perhaps the only truly encyclopedic art museum in the state. While there are at least two other terrific art museums in our city, both worth visiting, I can attest to the value of one that is truly encyclopedic. Any undergraduate would appreciate the ability to “compare and contrast” offered by an art museum with a global range in its collection. Perhaps a bit more of the “beaux arts” or the Gothic would have been appreciated by some with respect to the building, it’s what’s inside that counts, no?