Museum Goers Spend Average of 11 Seconds Per Masterpiece, 4 Minutes on Gift Shop

A comprehensive study by the National Endowment for the Arts has confirmed what museum security guards have known for decades: the average American spends roughly 11 seconds contemplating a work of art before moving on, presumably to contemplate the next work of art for a similar 11 seconds. The gift shop, by contrast, commands a respectable four minutes of undivided attention, with visitors displaying the kind of focused deliberation before a rack of Monet umbrellas that Monet himself probably wished people would show his actual paintings. The study also found that 73% of museum photos are taken for Instagram, 22% are accidental, and the remaining 5% are of the exit signs. When reached for comment, the Metropolitan Museum of Art said they were "not surprised" and reminded everyone that memberships are tax-deductible.