The last known photo portrait of Abraham Lincoln. A masterpiece made up of thousands of tiny painted dots. Scenes of the American West that will leave you breathless. Some of our nation’s greatest treasures -- all at your fingertips.
In a few hours I will join art enthusiasts, students, and local leaders at the Art Institute of Chicago to announce a major expansion of the Google Art Project. We are thrilled to have partnered with 151 museums in 40 countries including 29 American institutions in 16 cities.
Now anyone with an Internet connection can take a virtual field trip to see some of the finest art around the world and right here in America. No permission slip, sack lunch or bus fare needed! All before lunch, from their desk, a student could walk through the East Room of the White House, visit one of the greatest collections of the American West in the world at the Denver Art Museum, and take a quick trip to Massachusetts to see some of the great illustrations at the Norman Rockwell Museum. They could, of course, also go see South African rock art, street graffiti from Brazil or Australian aboriginal art.
All told, the Art Project puts over 30,000 works of art at your fingertips and allows you to:
- Explore inside museums: We’ve adapted mapping technology to take 360-degree images of the interior of selected galleries which were then stitched together, enabling smooth navigation of more than 385 rooms within the museums. You can also explore the gallery interiors directly from within Street View in Google Maps.
- Discover history: Our partners have provided the backstory of many of the works in the Art Project and the artists that created these pieces. The Art Project is a fantastic classroom tool with hundreds of short educational videos created by SmartHistory presented by Khan Academy.
- Get up close: We now have 46 artworks available with our “gigapixel” photo capturing technology, photographed in extraordinary detail using super high resolution so you can study details of the brushwork and patina that would be impossible to see with the naked eye.
- Curate your own collection - build a personalized collection, provide your own commentary, and share it with your friends and family.
To learn even more about the Google Art Project and today’s announcement read this post on the Official Google Blog.