Thursday 03rd February 2011Everyone seems to be buzzing about Google's latest release, the
Google Art Project. Launched this week, the project sees 17 of the worlds top cultural institutions getting on board to allow visitors through their doors no matter where they are based in the world.
Each of the institutions have chosen one artwork to be showcased on the Google Art Project, with that chosen work being photographed in 7 billion pixels worth of detail and displayed online for the world to view. Like this example of The Bedroom from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam:
Alongside the artwork, there is also the opportunity to take a virtual stroll around some of the galleries at these institutions (below you can see The Bedroom in situ). An interactive floor plan of each venue allows you to choose between the available rooms, and be transported there in an instant. Google used their now infamous street-view-style photography to capture the inside of each of these institutions, amongst which you will find:
- Museo Thyseen - Bornemisza, Madrid
- Uffizi Gallery, Florence
- Tate Britain, London
- Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian, Washington, DC
- Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
- National Gallery, London
- The Museum of Modern Art, New York
- Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid
- Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
- Gemaldegalerie, Berlin
- Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin
- The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
- Palace of Versailles, Versailles
- The State Tretyakov, Moscow
- Museum Kampa, Prague
- The Frick Collection, New York
With Google having proven that people have a real interest in being able to get interactive with places that they have been or want to go, the Google Art Project provides a great platform to take art to a wider audience. Hopefully it will cultivate enough curiosity and interest for people to want to take that extra step and visit these institutions in real life, to see some of the great masterpieces on show.
Posted on February 03rd 2011 on 09:10pm