Investigating the Role of Companions in the Art Museum Experience

This paper analyzes the role played by the presence or the absence of companions in the individual experience of visiting an art museum. Until now, little research has focused on the visitor's accompaniment, even though the dual nature of visiting a museum, both a social leisure activity and an introspective experience, points to its potential importance. I present the principal results of a qualitative study of art museum visitors (a content analysis of twenty-four semi-directed interviews), from which I then draw implications of relevance to further research and to museum management.

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