Class Discussion 2: Galleria Accademia

  On our second day in Florence my main goal was to visit two key art museums, the first on my list being The Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze, or Galleria Accademia.  This museum’s main draw is Michaelangelo’s marble statue of David, but it features a large collection of Renaissance paintings and smaller marble statues as well.  Since I was unable to prebook tickets, I arrived at the museum before it opened to ensure that I would be able to enter without waiting in line for hours, which meant that the museum was incredibly crowded once I was finally able to enter.  This made it difficult to view the majority of the paintings and smaller statues, since the sheer volume of visitors was difficult to get through in a cramped space.  With that being said, the museum was definitely laid out to maximize viewership of Michaelangelo’s David.  While other statues had been placed too close to the wall to view all angles, or displayed in close proximity to similar works, David was placed independently of any other displays on a pedestal that allowed visitors to see all angles of the statue as it towered over them.  The height and separate display made it clear that this statue was valued more highly to the curators than the rest of the exhibit, which makes sense since it is one of the most famous statues in the world, but this does make the rest of the collection seem less important by extension.  By dedicating the majority of the space to this singular piece, the Galleria Accademia creates an optimal viewing experience for the details of this statue at the expense of the other work featured in the gallery, which made it difficult to appreciate the rest of the art in its entirety.