Google has opened the doors to a selection of galleries for the online community to wander around at their virtual pleasure. Google have taken their 360 degree camera technology inside some of the most famous galleries in the world and painted a map of the entire space inside. You can know look at some of the greatest paintings in the comfort of your own home. Although this isn’t as good as seeing the art in person, (and we would much prefer to urge people to go and see these galleries for themselves) it does offer more than a glimpse into what you can expect from them.
The galleries that have been chosen have also selected one piece from their collections to be photographed at stunning high resolution. There are 17 in all and offer the viewer a great depiction of the original work. You can zoom in to the art work and feel every brush stroke and see the textures for what they are.
Google has set up a unique website for the art gallery tours called Art Project, but you can also access the insides of the galleries through Google Maps itself. Some of the galleries / museums let you drop the Google Street View icon directly onto a map of the gallery, while others let you enter from the street with a new, double-arrow icon.
Visit the project here to experience this for yourself.
Posted: February 2011
Author: Slate
