Google Art Project – A Trip To Art Museums

By Suparna Chakaraborthy

Monday, February 21, 2011, 11:20

Do you share the passion of art with millions across the world? If yes, then Google Art Project website is the right place for you. Google introduces yet another search result wonder the Google Art Project. This website gets, major art museums from across the world onto your computer screen with just a click.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, The Vatican Museums in Rome, The Tate Museum in London, or The Smithsonian in Washington, DC, you name it and it will be there. You can navigate through the museums and relish the moment of looking at a detailed art piece with description. The Google Art Project is the second best way to visit the art museums and loose yourself amidst all the wondrous work of art by famous art scholars.

To navigate through art museums in Google Art project all you need to do is to select the museum, select the specific art work and you are all set to lay sight on the wonders. Each piece of art will have a side bar containing information about the art form and the artist.

The website works on the path of the Google Street View, to allow the user explore the museums. One can navigate through the streets , enter the museum and go through different sections of the museum. The map will guide the user as to which part of the museum has what to offer.
Amit Sood, the head of the Google Art Project, started working on it in London. What started as out of personal interest in art, went on to take a larger shape and slowly several museums became it's member. There is an option, which allows the user to enlarge the picture to view better. The decision of which picture should be placed on the site, the size and the resolution was left on the museum completely.

One drawback of the website is that it does not have any of the West Coast museums which have disappointed many of the viewers. The Boston Globe"s Sebastian Smee says, “We"re deluding ourselves if we think Van Gogh"s brilliance can be subdivided into pixels . . . to start with, human vision is binocular; digital photography is not." To this Amit Sood replies, "We all feel strongly that this was never done with the intention to replicate (that) experience. This was done with an intention to bring new audiences into museums".