The Love of Art Pierre Bourdieu y Alain Darbel

The Love of Art: European Art Museums and Their Public is a study conducted by Pierre Bourdieu and Alain Darbel (in collaboration with Dominique Schnapper) on museum attendance. Published in 1966, this book is supported by various surveys conducted in five European countries (Spain, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, and Poland) that seek to challenge the assumed natural and universal enjoyment of the cultural practice of visiting museums.

“If you go to the museum,” Pierre Bourdieu and Alain Darbel state at the end of a rigorous and fascinating study, “it’s because you went to school. If you visit museums frequently, it’s because you spent a long time in school. (…) The love of art (…) is like knowing how to behave at the dinner table: the privilege of a social class.” (Madeleine Chapsal, L’Express, September 1966).

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Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2002) was a French sociologist, anthropologist, and philosopher, renowned for his influential theories on cultural capital, habitus, and social fields. Born in rural France, Bourdieu studied philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure before turning to sociology. His early fieldwork in Algeria shaped his critique of structuralism and his focus on power dynamics in culture and education

A public intellectual, Bourdieu critiqued neoliberalism and media power. His interdisciplinary approach bridged theory and empirical research, leaving a lasting impact on social sciences. He died in Paris in 2002.