The democratization of the American art museum has in some ways increased the visual insecurity of viewers. You’re standing there judging the work, but instead it feels like the work is judging you. If you’re stumped, you are less likely to blame the artist than yourself. You may even assume you are an indolent person who has failed to make the requisite intellectual effort, which in turn can unleash a chain of negative thoughts about straying from your diet, neglecting to send a sympathy card and other unforgivable failures of will.”