Google have a new project-'The Art Project'-like Tesco they get everywhere and try most things. Today it's taking you on a tour of the World's museums (well some of them). As well as being able to view some lovely quality artworks -you can zoom in to see minute details, you can elect to walk around the Museum they are hung in using Google Street View technology. The only trouble is that (due to Copyright restrictions) as you walk (if you can manage to not start walking up walls by mistake or keeling over at odd angles (me) most of the paintings appear 'blurry' (as Google puts it). This makes the experience of visiting the Tretyakov Gallery similar to how it would be after some Black Market home brewed vodka. It's safer to navigate via the floor plan feature. Certainly there is a wealth of information tucked into this website including Youtube videos, audio tours and text information about the works. You can also search for more works by a particular artist across all the museums.
(thanks to Gina for this one)
Google Art Project contributing museums (so far)
- Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin - Germany
- Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian, Washington DC - USA
- The Frick Collection, NYC - USA
- Gemäldegalerie, Berlin - Germany
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC - USA
- MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art, NYC - USA
- Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid - Spain
- Museo Thyssen - Bornemisza, Madrid - Spain
- Museum Kampa, Prague - Czech Republic
- National Gallery, London - UK
- Palace of Versailles - France
- Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam - The Netherlands
- The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg - Russia
- State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow - Russia
- Tate Britain, London - UK
- Uffizi Gallery, Florence - Italy
- Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam - The Netherlands
I read about this on one of the listservs - it's pretty cool, isn't it? I didn't like the 'Explore the Museum' feature much, but found it easier to navigate by the 'View the artwork' route.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog, by the way!