Columbia Museum of Art — Attraction in Columbia

I should have read the reviews before coming. If I had, we wouldn't have gone. I went with my young kids and the downstairs was lovely. The lady at the front desk was nice. (PSA: they take the no food and drink seriously, but she was very nice about it.) They gave us bags of binoculars, a book, and a fidget toy, as well as a scavenger hunt that she said was for the upstairs. There's a kids room with lots of toys, blocks, and art materials. One exhibit has a little room full of props that says "go ahead and touch!" But downstairs only has like 3 or 4 exhibits, and the upstairs has 20. So we went upstairs to complete the scavenger hunt, and this is where it became super pretentious and uncomfortable. The workers followed us around every exhibit and fussed at my kid for the tiniest things. He stood too close to something that he wasn't touching at all and just trying to see better. He touched a rope blocking off art - he wasn't trying to cross it or touch anything inside of it. He touched a blank wall with no art anywhere near it. We couldn't even breathe up there. From the reviews I see that we are not the first to have this experience. We love museums and have been to other museums in the Columbia area and had a lovely time, but this museum made it abundantly clear that we were...

Had our first ever visit yesterday and While It was interesting to see the various collections in the museum the security people were intrusive and hovering so much so it was distracting, while looking at a single item the security person walked by quite a few times, Other areas he went by less. I don’t know what I did to trigger him but I had no purse, backpack ,spray can or moving truck so I’m not sure what that was all about. It also would benefit perhaps to have ropes up so that they don’t have to personally approach EVERY person who is standing too close to the art(also try larger font size to prevent leaning in to read the art information paragraph that is located directly along the side of most paintings), barriers are surely respected and appreciated over being counseled by security as I saw happen to a young woman and her son who got a bit too close. Also the crowd flow was very disjointed and not directed in a organized way and I imagine that makes security more uncomfortable as well. This is just my personal feelings but having my every move being obviously watched is deeply disturbing and made me feel not welcome and took away from the experience. 5 stars for Van Gogh ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ !!

3 stars for...

Not kid friendly! My children have gone to the MOMA in New York, we have toured museums in many different places. I grew up in Italy and and toured some of the most well known high security museums and none have ever followed me or my family with security as this one! Also they have an exhibit with chairs. My daughter is little and can’t read well yet. She saw a chair unguarded and sat down. I was with her and said “no!” When I noticed. Three security guards came up to me and I was so embarrassed. Three!! That many surrounding us was completely unnecessary and humiliating in front of other patrons. I know that touching is not allowed but young children can’t tell the difference between a regular chair and a piece of art that is a chair. If very young children are allowed as guests please make the art less accessible to them. I also agree with another post that says the information is in hard to see print and sometimes you must get very up close to the pieces to see the information. I will not be back with my kids and recommend not taking your kids unless you enjoy being followed. It’s a shame as children benefit greatly from these...