Guest blog-Valentine's Day date ideas- go to a gallery.

 

With your brain in overdrive trying to think of a date for Valentine's Day, we've asked Amelia Jefferies from dating site DoingSomething.co.uk, how do you take a date to a gallery? Be warned there are pitfalls. 

Adam and Eve by Johnathan Reiner

Thank you very much for the advice Amelia!

Here at DoingSomething.co.uk we are encouraging a new way to date; gone are the awkward dinner-drinks interviews because dating is more fun when you are doing something! And a gallery can be great for this – there’s tonnes to look at, lots of talking points if conversation gets a bit stunted and heaps of opportunity to get to know a little bit more about the other person without having to ask.

 

But it can also be a minefield. What if you are way more into it than them? Or them than you? The last thing you want is to spend a day with someone who is on a totally different wavelength to you when it comes to art. Of course, this can be a great way to weed out the potential dates that are just incompatible, but it doesn’t make the date any easier to endure. Maybe have a chat beforehand and find out if a trip to a gallery is their sort of thing, if they have any preferences or if they are just willing to try something new!

 

Another thing to think about is opinions. People can feel very strongly about ‘what is art’, and you don’t want to end up arguing over the artistic merit of a red square on a canvas or a messy bed. Alternatively, you don’t want to take someone to the Tate Britain who feels that a landscape can never be more than just a landscape. Again, talking helps; you can’t please everyone but you can ensure the success of your date by making sure it’s something you both want to explore.

 

A good way to side-step all of this? Avoid big galleries and famous works. Not only is it stressful as all hell trying to silently battle your way through the National Gallery against rising tides of Japanese tourists and disinterested school trips, but it’s not the most original of date ideas either. Take your date to a smaller or independent gallery, or somewhere with a great exhibition series, that showcases unknown, up-and-coming or obscure artists. When there are no preconceptions of how you should feel about the work on display you can actually engage with it (and each other) a bit more honestly.

 

That said, don’t fall into the trap of assuming the other person is expecting you to say something profound and meaningful about what you see. They probably aren’t and you run the risk of sounding like a pretentious idiot. And that’s not exactly a turn on.

Have a date idea but nobody to share it with? Check out DoingSomething for potential date partners.