Apparently, art museums are good for you.

Kind of like Mozart. Except that classical music has been hailed as relaxing and healthy for years, and that has only harmed classical music by convincing everyone it’s totally boring and giving conductors and orchestras cause to make it ever more boring, harming it even more. Why is relaxation always the only measure of health? Why isn’t it just as healthy to get good and riled up over something, get a little color in your cheeks?

Unfortunately, art often seems to be complicit in what has become a loser race to relaxation. I was at Seattle Art Museum on its final day last week, wandering with the hushed crowds through the Tiffany show. The lamps were gorgeous, even titillating. But what was interesting, frustrating, and above all, worth talking about, was the show’s (unstated) range. Because, as I discovered, Tiffany was a terrible painter, truly terrible. Of course, organizers want the show to hang together, to form a respectable whole, and that doesn’t allow for frank talk about the artist’s ability levels in various mediums. Yet for my money, that debate would have been more fun, smarter, and virtually packed with vitamins and minerals.