Using its own Google Street View technology, and its vast databases of scanned artworks, books, artefacts Google offers a very broad and well curated choice of sophisticatedly produced virtual museum tours incl. also teaching and learning activities, teaching resources etc. through Google Arts and Culture.
Some of the most attractive are:
Museu de Arte de São Paulo, São Paulo (Brazil)
MASP is internationally recognized for its collection of European art, considered the finest in Latin America and all Southern Hemisphere. Of course it also houses extensive Brazilian art, prints and drawings, as well as smaller collections of African and Asian art, antiquities, decorative arts, and others.
Musée d’Orsay, Paris (France)
This French tourist hotspot features a gallery with works from French artists who worked and lived between 1848 and 1914 including Monet, Cézanne, and Gauguin, among others.
Pergamon Museum, Berlin (Germany)
This historical museum is home to plenty of ancient artifacts including the Ishtar Gate of Babylon and, of course, the Pergamon Altar.
Acropolis Museum, Athens (Greece)
The Acropolis Museum shows a newly curated exhibition of artefacts from the Acropolis sanctuary and the slopes of the Acropolis hoill, most importantly the remnants of the Parthenon frieze.
Uffizi Gallery, Florence (Italy)
The Uffizi were designed by Giorgio Vasari in 1560 specifically for Cosimo I de’Medici for his family’s collection of mostly Renaissance art.
National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City (Mexico)
This museum shows in 23 rooms the archaeology and history of Mexico’s pre-Hispanic heritage with ancient artifacts, including some from the Mayan civilization.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Rijksmuseum’s virtual tour shows masterworks from the Dutch Golden Age, including works from Johannes Vermeer and Rembrandt.
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Van Gogh Museum is home to the largest collection of artworks by Vincent van Gogh, including over 200 paintings, 500 drawings, and over 750 personal letters.
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul (South Korea)
This virtual museum shows contemporary art from Korea as well as a substantial internationally recognized collection including artworks by Joseph Beuys, Andy Warhol, Georg Baselitz, Jörg Immendorff, Marcus Lüpertz, Nam June Paik, Nikki de Saint-Phalle, and Michelangelo Pistoletto.
British Museum, London (UK)
The British Museum in London offers virtual tours through extensive parts of its collections filtered by regions and/or themes (e.g. Art & Design, Living & Dying etc.).
For more information, check our own introduction.
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (USA)
The virtual tour allows a glimpse into a huge collection of paintings, drawings, sculptures, manuscripts, and photographs from the USA and Europe going as far back as the 8th century.
Guggenheim Museum, New York (USA)
The tour takes visitors down the Guggenheim’s famous spiral ramp to discover artworks from the Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary eras.
Museum of Modern Art, New York (USA)
MoMA’s rich and varied collection offers a panoramic overview of modern and contemporary art, from European painting and sculpture of the 1880s to today’s film, design, and performance art.
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. (USA)
The National Gallery shows two exhibitions online: 1) an exhibit of American fashion from 1740 to 1895, including many renderings of clothes from the colonial and Revolutionary eras; and 2) a collection of works by Dutch Baroque master Johannes Vermeer.
