I too have been irritated by fellow gallery visitors photographing the works (Letters, 7 November). That is until I did it myself. On a visit to Tate Britain recently, I found myself in The Exhibition Age gallery. Unusually, there were no obvious labels with the pictures, which were hung all the way to the ceiling as they might have been in a Royal Academy exhibition in the 18th century.
I thought the pictures rather disappointing, competent but not insightful. Until I found myself in front of quite a dark painting, A School, by John Opie. I was overwhelmed. I thought I was looking at a Rembrandt. An elderly woman hearing a child read. The woman’s expression said so much. I had to take a picture, as I felt I had discovered a genuinely inspiring piece that I’d never heard of. I wanted to possess it. That she reminded me of my late mother may also have coloured my reaction.
In future I shan’t judge my fellow visitors if they feel as moved as I was by a piece.
Martin Cooper
Bromley, London
I was reminded by Ross Speirs’ letter about art gallery visitors taking pictures of the paintings of a visit to the Musée d’Orsay a little while ago. I got so fed up with people standing with their backs to paintings, taking selfies with a bit of the artwork, that I started bobbing up in between photographer and painting. There must be people all over the world still wondering who the mad old lady with pink hair was.
Lillian Adams
Grosmont, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire