Connoisseurs and art lovers, this museum is not for you. Separated into three galleries, the Museum of Bad Art is now attracting as many as 8,000 visitors a year, reports the Daily Mail.
As the name suggests, the museum is dedicated to the collection, preservation and exhibition of bad art in all its forms. Among the works in the category of ‘poor traits,’ there is a copy of the Mona Lisa that would surely cause Leonardo da Vinci to turn in his grave.
The museum, opened by art dealer Scott Wilson, is filled with obscure paintings found in yard sales, rescued from the dump or mysteriously donated, some of which are “so bad, they’re good.”
“We have very stringent selection criteria, much of it exactly the same as traditional art museums,” said executive director Louise Reilly Sacco. “Works must be original, sincere and interesting. They must communicate, or try to communicate, something. But something must have gone spectacularly wrong, too.
“It could be an unfortunate subject, overwrought imagery, an experiment in colour, perspective or design that failed or an artist who barely knows which end of the paintbrush is up.”
The director points out that most visitors leave the museum with a smile.