Google Art Project Virtual Tours

by LW (subscribe)

Published February 17th 2011

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Google has partnered with some of the world's great galleries and museums to create virtual tours of their art collections.

Using the technology of street view you can browse the corridors of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence or New York's Museum of Modern Art and view pieces by artists such as Rembrandt, Caravaggio and Van Gogh on your computer screen in high resolution. While the "tours" themselves are impressive what makes this site an experience is the details and stunning use of technology. Each piece can be viewed individually and features a high-res zooming function that allows you to get up close with the artist's brushstrokes and inspect the minute cracks, bumps and layers of paint that make these masterpieces so breathtaking.

Artworks are accompanied with viewing notes and information about the artist; and visitors can share their favourite pieces with their friends via social media networks. Furthermore, those with a Google account can create and save their own collection of up to a thousand artworks and include personal notes to keep or share with those you love.

This site is a great achievement and an excellent example of how technology can make the world more accessible and allow us to view and understand it in our own personal way.

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