How to visit a gallery

A commercial gallery is a shop in which almost nobody buys anything on any given day. The person at the desk expects you to look and leave. Once you know that, a gallery becomes one of the few places in a city where you can stand quietly in front of real work, for free, for as long as you like.

1. You are allowed in

Commercial galleries do not charge for entry. The Jehangir Art Gallery in Kala Ghoda, Mumbai, is free too, unless an exhibition says otherwise. You do not need an appointment for a gallery with an open door. For galleries on an upper floor or in a private building, a doorbell or a phone call is normal.

2. Pick a time

• Weekday afternoons are quiet. You will often have the room to yourself.
• Openings, usually on the first evening of a show, are busy and social. Good for seeing who comes and meeting the artist; poor for looking.
• Gallery weekends put many shows on at once. Mumbai Gallery Weekend, held each January, opens more than thirty galleries over four days, from Colaba and Kala Ghoda to Worli and Bandra. India Art Fair gathers many galleries under one roof in New Delhi each February.

Check opening hours before you go. Some galleries close one day a week, and most close between shows.

3. At the door

Say hello. Sign the visitors’ book if there is one; it is how galleries know who came, and how you hear about the next show. There is usually a printed sheet or a folder at the desk listing the works, with titles, dates and media. Take it, or ask for it.

You do not need to explain yourself. “Just looking” is a complete sentence.

4. Looking

1. Walk the whole room once, quickly, without reading anything.
2. Go back to the work that stopped you. Stand in front of it longer than feels natural, at least a minute.
3. Step close, then step back. Many paintings change completely between two metres and twenty centimetres.
4. Only now read the label or the wall text, and see whether it matches what you saw.

Do not touch the work, even the frame. Keep bags close to your body in small rooms.

5. Asking questions

Gallery staff know the artist and the work better than anyone else in the room, and most are glad to be asked. Good questions:

• What else has the artist made in this series?
• How was this made?
• Where has the artist shown before?
• Is there a catalogue or a text I can take?

If you like a work and want to know more, it is normal to ask for the list of works with details. No one will hold you to anything.

6. Afterwards

Write down the artist’s name and one thing you remember about the work, the same day. After twenty visits you will have a list, and the list will show you your own taste more clearly than any advice. See Your first work for what to do with it.