I’ve been to the prominent museums in New York and other cities, but museums were not a significant part of my life until I got together with Maria.

Going to museums with an artist was a completely different experience for me, and whenever we have an afternoon free, which is rare, one of us suggests going to a museum.

Going with Maria has transformed me; I’m always happy to go.

I admit that the true art for me is watching Maria love and look at the art of other artists. She moves slowly and thoughtfully, pausing to get close to a painting or installation.

She never rushes, and once in a while, she’ll take out her cellphone and capture an image – she soaks up inspiration and ideas. Everything she sees goes in, and everything goes out one way or another.

Art means everything to her, and an art museum is like injecting a potent vitamin or stimulus for her. She always finds something to think about there. Museums are food; they nourish her.

We are blessed to have four fine museums in easy driving range. The Clark and the Williams College Museums in Williamstown Mass., Mass MoCA In North Adams, Mass., and the Tang Museum at Skidmore College.

We often go to the Williams College Museum and the spectacular and vast Mass MoCA of the four. We often drift apart while walking around in these museums; we each stop to take in what we like best, which Maria has taught me to experience other people’s art.

We’ve only been to the Tang once, and I find the Clark a little stuffy, although Maria says some beautiful things are in their permanent collection.

I think, in many ways, the Williams College Museum is our favorite. It is free, friendly (we are happy to pay for museum visits), and quiet. It is small and intimate.

The guards are low-key and rarely yell at us to stand back. Art students usually answer questions and talk about their work.

This is a learning museum (Williams College), so the work often reflects young artists’ unique energy and creative boldness. It’s exciting to walk around there.

It’s a peaceful and somehow nourishing place. It’s small. If Maria wants to see something I don’t want to see or spend more time browsing, I’ll find a sofa and sit and think or pull out a book.

If either of us sees something special, we will go and fetch the other. Afterward, and on the way home, we talk about what we have seen.

I often try to take a photo or two of Maria, because that is the most beautiful exhibit I ever see. An artist through and through inside soaking up the artists on the outside.

This always looks beautiful to me.

I had a Leica challenge in the museum, taking a photograph of William Morris Hunt’s famous painting Niagara Falls (1878. I finally figured out how to focus the camera in a dark room and pick up the details of the work.

I’m on a roll learning how to use this camera.

I’m working hard on it.