"Sir, you're standing too close to the painting."

Norman Rockwell, Art Critic, Oil, 39 1/2 x 36 1/4", 1955

It seems like you can always spot an artist among the many patrons visiting an art museum. The artist is the one, myself included, with their nose only mere inches away from a painting--studying every brushstroke and mark on the canvas trying to figure out exactly how it was created. I'm frequently being told by the security guards that I'm too close to the paintings and that I need to stand back because I'm tripping some silent alarms or something. I think to myself, "This is dumb, I'm not going to touch the artwork. Everybody knows that!" But I was recently talking with my sister where she told me about the time she was in a museum in Europe looking at a painting by Caravaggio. When someone came up beside her and poked the painting with their finger! Not just a light tap but a poke to the point where the painting was shaking on the wall. She immediately gasped out of sheer shock to what this person had just done, and they calmly turned to her and said, "Am I not supposed to do that?" Unbelievable.

I guess everyone doesn't know you're not supposed to touch original artwork, that by doing so you could damage the painting. Which bring me to the point of this post. I was recently made aware of this article by Corinne Reidy that list 10 Famous Works of Art That Are Forever Damaged. Granted, most of these painting were maliciously attacked, but when I read this article I thought of all the times I've been told to stand back from paintings. It's a very interesting read and I appreciated Corinne for bringing it to my attention.