How clearly would I be able to see a galaxy with the naked eye if viewed from a "close" distance? In images of other galaxies they look very bright and vivid against the blackness of space (example). If I was located a few tens of thousands of lightyears away from a galaxy, would I see something similar or would it be more like a slightly brighter smudge in space?

I'm wondering since it seems we can barely see the features of our own galaxy with the naked eye from earth.

Edit: I see that someone has downvoted the question, it would have been good to have some feedback! I realise the question might be a bit vague, but I thought it was interesting to know if galaxies would look as bright as we see them in the pictures.
The surface brightness of an extended source in independent of distance. So for the surface brightness of a large spiral go look at M31 (The Great Galaxy in Andromeda) . What will change with distance is the apparent size, but the surface brightness will remain the same.

The surface brightness of a near edge-on galaxy will be greater than one face-on due to the greater number of stars close to any sight-line, and the integrated brightness will of course vary with distance.