What's the point of going to a museum? (with Susan Crane)
2026-08-25 · 42 min · episode 1 · 12 entities
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What's the point of going to a museum? (with Susan Crane)
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What's the point of going to a museum? (with Susan Crane)
Episode description as stored
Vote for Call 'Em Like Museum in the 2026 Signal Awards
Did you know the Mona Lisa only got world-famous after it was stolen from the Louvre? In 1911, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece was just another portrait in the Salon Carré, shoved between a bunch of other Renaissance paintings. But when a former museum worker stole it, the public flocked to the museum to stare at "nothing," the blank space on the wall.
This phenomenon fascinated Susan Crane, a history professor at the University of Arizona and author of "Nothing Happened: A History."
In 2026, the Mona Lisa's status could not be more different: It has a wall entirely to itself behind bulletproof glass, drawing millions of visitors who wait behind stanchions to catch a glimpse & maybe take a selfie.
Today on Call 'Em Like Museum, Susan questions our relationship to famous works of art in museums, and explains how to cultivate genuine surprise as a visitor. She also explores how museums have been reshaped by technology and politics, the ongoing debate of the Smithsonian versus the White House, and whether school field trips are actually worth the effort. Plus: The absolutely wild way the literary elite used to experience museums in the 19th century.
Full transcript of this episode
Susan’s book: Nothing Happened: A History
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This episode was hosted, produced, and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod
Chapters
(00:00) - Introduction
(04:04) - The Meaning and Early History of Museums
(07:58) - How Photography Became Fine Art
(11:52) - Stealing and Photographing the Mona Lisa
(18:14) - Why Museums Matter
(23:58) - Who Decides What Belongs in a Museum?
(29:12) - Goethe's "Gallery Dialogues"
(31:13) - Politics, Control, and Change
(40:37) - Exit Through the Gift Shop
Music: www.purple-planet.com
Images:
Stealing Mona Lisa
Vincenzo Peruggia and “Daily Scene in the Louvre”
The blank space
La “Joconde” a disparu
Mona returns
Mona Lisa in the Louvre
Excelsior newspaper
Galeries Des Antiques
French Crown Jewels
Allegory of Marriage
Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine
Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee
Videos:
Photo Museum
Benjamin Banneker