People love art museums — but has the art itself become irrelevant?

NPR | ARTS & LIFE

Once we dematerialize art and make it a springboard for other interests, philosophy and theology among them, we hardly have to look at it.

In May, a 1955 painting by Pablo Picasso was sold at auction for more than $179 million, the highest price at auction ever. And attendance at major art museums is booming. "The art world has never been healthier, if you measure the intensity of the human experience of what art has to offer," says Michael Lewis, an art history professor at Williams College. In the current issue of Commentary Magazine, Lewis argues that we shouldn't be fooled by the gleaming appearance of the art world today. He tells NPR's Scott Simon that most Americans have in fact become indifferent to art. [link]