What was that beautiful work I saw
at the Met? Which room was Sargent's portrait painting, Madame X, in? I loved that Renoir but didn't have time to go back and spend
a little more time with that work and that work alone. How do I answer these questions? Simply, Google Art Project.
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| Google Art Project is a great way to explore the oil paintings, drawings, sculptures, and more that are in museums all over the world. |
Last month Google unveiled it's
second iteration of the project, offering more than 32,000 works of art from museums all over
the world. I think it is
a fantastic way to explore museums without having to pay for a flight, hotel,
and endure a trip through TSA security. Places
like the Met, the Musee d'Orsay, and the Museum of Fine Art in Boston are all
included. The features are incredible. Have you always wanted to go to the Uffizi? Stroll the halls with the Google Art Project's "Museum View," and you see the museum like you would with Google's "Street View."
In my digital exploration of the Met using this feature I was amazed to see how much smaller David's oil painting, The
Death of Socrates, than I had
imaged it to be once I saw it placed within the museum. I viewed many of Sargent's
great portraiture (including one housed in the White House) from around the world.
Each image of a fine art painting or sculpture is captured in a resolution so
high that you can zoom in closer than you'd ever be able to at the
museum, and see all the detailed brushwork it took to create that piece of art without security being called in because you've gotten too close or you having to rush by because museum hours ending. And if you've found a collection you
wish you could have in your very own home, you can create your own
collection of works through Google Art Project called My Galleries. This is quite nice for putting together an inspiration
gallery of your own.
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| You can create galleries of a single artist or of works you love from all over the world. |
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In addition
to your own online art gallery, you can check out a host of other galleries that other people all over the world have created. For instance, I found a fantastic collection of French work from artists
including Manet, Monet, and Degas that a user just like me created. It was so inspiring!
The
entire interface of the Google Art Project is very slick, so you should have a pretty easy time
navigating it. Take a look if you haven't already, and tell us
what your favorite works were in the comments below. And if you create a gallery, let us know what works made the cut and include a link to it!
--Ben
Ben Berlin is the video producer for American Artist magazine.