A moment of silence for all the travel plans which have fallen through due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. But while you can’t make physical trips abroad, you can still remain cultured and travel the world digitally. So why not check out some of the best artworks known to mankind and explore the world-class museums that house them, as you would with your typical vacations? Here are five art galleries which have partnered with Google’s Art and Culture platform to present online exhibitions and more. It isn’t the same experience you’d have in person, but it sure is a start.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
With the closure of its three locations, The Metropolitan Museum of Art aka The Met has gone digital. Find numerous online collections such as Making The Met, 1870-2020, Coco Chanel: Modernism and Christian Dior: The New Look, as well as others comprising artworks from the Baroque and Renaissance eras. Or if you just want to check out street views of the museum and fantasise yourself sitting on the steps of The Met, you can do so here as well.
The Museum of Modern Art
The first museum in Manhattan to be devoted to modern art, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) offers modern and contemporary artworks, from European paintings and sculptures in the 1880s to today’s film, design and performance art. Check out high resolution images of the artworks they’ve got here, including Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night and The Dream by Henri Rousseau. All paintings are accompanied by elaborate and informative descriptions too.
Musee d’Orsay, Paris
Here’s where you’ll discover some of the best impressionist and post-impressionist art pieces on the planet. At this Parisian institute, view artworks such as The Birth of Venus, Self-Portrait by van Gogh, Luncheon on the Grass and more. Plus, its online exhibition From Station to the Renovated Musee d’Orsay takes museum-goers through the history of the space, like how a simple French railway station was transformed into a world-class venue.
Museo Dolores Olmedo
Self Portrait with Caddy (1945)
Housing a tremendous amount of Frida Kahlo paintings, Museo Dolores Olmedo is a Mexico City institution. Dream of exploring the country as you browse through important collections of works by the female artist herself; Frida Kahlo: I Portray Myself has got to be one of our favourite online exhibitions.
Rijksmuseum
This Dutch museum is known to house masterpieces by Dutch artists like Rembrandt, Frans Hals, and Johannes Vermeer. In fact, the latter’s famous painting The Milkmaid is a permanent exhibit here, and so is The Night Watch by Rembrandt. However, you’ll have to check out Mauritshuis to find Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, considered by the Dutch public to be one of the most beautiful paintings in the Netherlands.
