My thoughts on art galleries and museums

I often come away from art galleries and museums feeling frustrated.  There's so much to see or should I say there's too much to see?
I found this to be particularly true of Tate Modern,  which I visited with my wife on Sunday after going to the Contemporary Applied Arts showroom.
The message I'm getting from my Context of Practice course is that I should be looking harder at works of art, I should be looking for the subtle references that will unlock hidden meanings, and that this will help me understand and possibly enjoy more of the modern art in places like the Tate.
But the Tate's environment isn't conducive to focusing on a single work of art.  There's too many works of art and there's too many people.  I end up just being carried along with everyone else spending a few moments on each item and suffering information overload.
It's not just modern art that gives me problems.  I recall quietly groaning to myself "not yet more water lilies" when I went to a much-vaunted Monet exhibition several years ago and groaning "not yet more colourful landscapes" at the Hockney exhibition last year.
There are exceptions.  I really like the contemporary glass in the Victoria and Albert Museum, possibly because there's a limited number of pieces and they're in a quiet gallery.
Personally, I would like the world's art treasures to be dispersed among public buildings so I could only see a maximum of, say, a couple in one place.  But I know that's never going to happen.