The Week UK - 28.03.2020

ARTS 31

28 March 2020 THE WEEK

Art

G

alleriesandmuseums

allovertheworldhave

takenthedecisiontoclose

theirdoors,saidAnna

PurnaKambhampatyin

Timemagazine.Butthese

suddenclosuresdon’t

necessarilymeanweneed

tospendthecoming

monthsstarvedofart.Arts

institutionsofallstripes–

fromtheTateGalleriesto

SouthKorea’sNational

MuseumofModernand

ContemporaryArt–have

beencomingupwithways

tosharetheircollections

online,andmanyofthe

world’sgreatestmuseums

havealreadycreated

platformsthatallowbrowserstovirtually

exploretheirgalleriesasiftheywerethere

intheflesh. Internetuserscansee

collectionsthat “wouldotherwiserequire

aplane ride tovisit”.

G

oogleArts&Culture isagoodplace

tostart, saidShane Reiner-Rothin

TheArchitect’sNewspaper.It has

partnered with2,000globalart institutions

to opentheirvirtualdoorstothepublic.

Youcan pop intothegalleries ofthe

Muséed’OrsayinParis,pausingtotakein

Manet’sLedéjeuner surl’herbe,thenhead

totheMauritshuis (above)in TheHague

for aclose look atVermeer’sGirlwitha

PearlEarring.Whileseveralmuseums on

the website donotyet offeravirtual tour

viaGoogleStreetView,they“provide the

next bestthingthroughhigh-resolution

images of their most exemplaryartwork”.

F

or atruly “immersiveexperience”,

said AimeeDawsoninThe Art

Newspaper,try thevideowalk-through

of thegalle ries in SaintPetersburg’s State

Hermitage Museum(on YouTube).It’s

a“five-hour-long cinematicjourney”,

encompassing588 works of art, including

paintingsbyRaphael, Cézanne,Goya and

Michelangelo,alongsideastellarcollection

ofancientartefacts.TheMuseoNacional

Thyssen-Bornemisza,in Madrid,was

forcedto bring its blockbusterexhibition

of Rembrandt portraitsto anearlyclose,

buthassincelaunchedanimpressive

virtualtouroftheshow.Paris’s Louvre,

meanwhile, boasts lesscomprehensive

butnonetheless fascinatingtoursofthe

gallery dedicated toancientEgypt,the

restored Galeried’Apollon,as wellas

apanoramic viewof thelong-disused

moatinitsbasement–areminder that

“themostpopular museum intheworld”

was originallybuiltasafortress.

O

fferingsfromAmericanmuseums

are noless enticing,saidMaria

PuenteinUSA Today.The National

Gallery ofArtin Washington DCboasts

avirtualtourfocused onVermeerand

Dutchgenrepainters,aswellasa“brief

surveyofAmericanfashionsfrom 1 740 to

1895”. TheGettymuseumsinLosAngeles

allowyouto exploremuchof theirvast

collectionbytheme,withsectionsdevoted

to medievaldepictionsofheaven and hell,

and food intheRenaissance. Similarly,

anyone“longingfor access to New York’s

museums” won’tbe disappointed,said

Sarah Cascone onArtnet.com. Amongthe

“heavyhitters”with goodvirtual access

are TheMetropolitanMuseum of Art,

MoMA,The FrickCollectionandThe

GuggenheimMuseum.Moreintriguing

still is the chance todiscover some of the

US’s moreesotericinstitutions, suchas the

National Cowboy&WesternHeritage

Museumin Oklahoma City.

B

ritishmuseums arealsowellserved,

saidMaire Rose Connoron Londonist.

TheNational Gallery’s GoogleStreet

View tourtakes in some “300 Renaissance

masterpieces”, featuring “panoramic

views”of its most celebratedgalleries.

And thoughnotwithout its faults,the

British Museumwebsite isatreasuretrove

for the internet tourist,allowingvisitors to

browseexhibitsbycentury,

continentandtheme”;each

exhibitisaccompaniedby

detailedwrittenandaudio

descriptions.Andthough

ithasbeenclosedfor

renovationssince2018,

TheCourtauldGalleryis

hostingavirtualtourthat

presentsitscollectionin

“incredibledetail”,allowing

youunfetteredaccessto

worksbySeurat,vanGogh

andModigliani.

T

here’snoneedtolimit

yourselftopaintings

andsculpture,saidPoppy

GreenwoodinSpectator

Life.TheV&Awebsite,for

instance,allowsvisitorstoexplorecurrent

exhibitionsincludingexplorationsof

“stylesinthe 1 8thcenturyBritishcourt”;

traditionalIndiantextiles;and asurvey of

the “detail and symbolismof clothes ofthe

emperor’scourt inChina”. Asabonus,

you get“muchcloser totheclothes andart

thanyou wouldbe allowed toinreallife”.

Elsewhere, TheBritishLibrary isto make

someof its “morehiddentreasures”

availabletoview online,said MarkBrown

in The Guardian. Amongthe highlights

willbeanumber ofhistoricantique

globes, including an 18thcentury example

that depicts Californiaas an islandand

labelsmuch of northwesternNorth

America as “unknownparts”.

T

he joyofthe internet is that it letsyou

beat thecrowds, said A.J.Willingham

on CNN.Avirtual tourofFlorence’s

Uffizi–hometoMiche langel o’sDavidand

Botticelli’sTheBirth of Venus–allows

you to skip the notoriouslylongqueues,

while thewebsite ofthe NationalMuseum

of African American HistoryandCulture

in Washington DC gives “a taste ofwhat

the museum hastooffer”, from

exhibitions on slavery to Motownand

beyond. Inshort, thereis something for

everyone. Just“plan outyourdream art

touracros sthe world” andget searching.

Virtual gallery tours: art in the age of coronavirus

With most of them shuttered, art galleries have found ways to show off their work online

©T

HE SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM FOUNDATION, NEW YORK

TheMauritshuis,TheHague:popinforavirtuallookaround