Thirty years ago, a high school senior forever changed the age-old game of cutting class. The movie classic, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, flawlessly captures art’s ability to influence our perception of ourselves and the world around us. 

 

Through all the wild capers Ferris and friends employ during their day off – stealing a car and dancing in a parade – perhaps the most surprising, yet significant, is their stop at an art museum. It is undeniably odd, and not just because its three teenagers playing hooky by going to a museum. Once the friends are separated in the museum, Cameron experiences an 'Aha' moment of total absorption into a work of art, almost as if he dived in so deeply he ceased to exist. 

 

As a former museum docent, I tell people that when they go through art museums there will be a (Cameron) moment where they are totally gobsmacked in front of something, and it changes their life forever. 

 

So, the next time you’re at an art museum, remember Ferris’s sage advice about life moving pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around, you might just miss an opportunity to learn something about yourself and life itself.