Look at a painting’s surface without guessing its condition
A screen image helps you prepare questions, but lighting, scale and reproduction can change what you see. Use this looking procedure in a gallery where access is permitted; it neither authenticates a work nor diagnoses its conservation condition.

1. Record the artist, title, date, medium and institution from the actual label. Keep the 2016 campaign record separate from a museum’s current display information.
2. Begin at a comfortable permitted distance. Describe a visible feature before interpreting it: a raised-looking mark, a glossy patch or a change in colour.
3. Change your viewing position only within the visitor rules. Note whether the feature changes with reflected light; do not touch, use flash or move barriers.
4. Compare the observation with a reproduction and write what the reproduction cannot resolve. Ask museum staff when the distinction matters.

Observation card — invented: A light patch appears near the edge when viewed from the left. From another permitted position it becomes less visible.
What can be recorded: Position, lighting and visible change. A photograph can preserve a question, subject to the museum’s photography rules.
What remains unresolved: Whether the patch is varnish reflection, paint texture, a later intervention or another cause. Appearance alone does not establish damage.
Useful question: “Does the museum provide a technical account of the surface or display lighting for this work?” Match any answer to the identified object.
Blank looking card: Label identity __; position __; visible feature __; change with viewpoint __; reproduction limitation __; source or staff question __.

Observation card — invented: ____________________
What can be recorded: ____________________
What remains unresolved: ____________________
Useful question: ____________________
Blank looking card: ____________________
The diagram below is a conceptual viewing aid, not a fabricated museum object. Check the museum’s current object page before planning a visit.

100 Masters — collection and institution links — https://100masters.brussels/collection/