Gallery rage

In the past couple of weeks I have been to three exhibitions. I saw Gauguin at the Tate, Cezanne at the Courtauld and William Lawrence at the National Portrait Gallery. All of them were crowded and yes, I enjoyed them a little less because of that but I still loved them all. And it was pretty much the last week of each of their hugely successful runs and I do think that these days, it has to be expected. So I'm surprised to see so much fuss in the media about 'gallery rage'. Unless you can manage to go as soon as an exhibition opens, ideally first thing in the morning or at the end of a 'late night', in my experience you have to expect the crowd scene. It's not new - for example, Van Gogh at the RA was heaving with visitors, as was Picasso at the NG and the Summer Exhibition at the RA is always a bit of a bunfight. I'm sure that gallery professionals across the country, and especially in London, are at this very moment studying visitor numbers, visitor flows, dwell times, satisfaction (or not) surveys, Tweets, online forums, etc. etc. as well as the good old box office returns. What a fine balance to achieve in these days of cuts and economies than that of raising as much income as possible whilst at the same time, delivering as enjoyable and satisfying an experience as possible for visitors of all types, as well as keeping the sponsors happy, let alone curators and conservators. Roll on the blockbusters, I say. And if you really want to experience a sharp elbowed, culture vulture melee, try getting your coat from the cloakroom at the end of a sell-out performance at the Opera House, Covent Garden.