Every temple can't be Saint Peter's. The possibilities are endless. Just as a pot by George Ohr can vie for greatness with the Sistine ceiling, a small museum can be as exalted as a big one. In London, where there are tens of millions of people, the new Tate makes sense. In smaller cities, building a giant museum is like plopping down a shopping mall in a small neighborhood.
Museums are great.
The problem is, too many of them have started to believe what they're doing isn't just good, but necessary. It's as if they don't think art is up to reaching people on its own. The truth about all this is, art's a lot of things, but one thing it's not is necessary. It might have been to cavemen, but it's not now, not to us. E-mail this story to a friend.